House GOP to deliver biggest US education overhaul in decades
By Hu Zexi
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Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing to be next Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2017. (File photo: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

Washington (People's Daily) - US House Republicans plan to introduce a bill this week that would usher in sweeping policy reforms directly impacting university-level education and student debt.

As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported, this new bill is set to get rid of student loan forgiveness programs for public service employees, establish a ceiling on borrowing for graduate students, and provide added funding to community colleges offering apprenticeships and partnerships with businesses.

This latest GOP legislation effort will be the biggest overhaul of US education policy in decades. Republicans have stressed that their policy initiative is an effort to address the current gap between education institutions and today’s expanding job market.

Over the past years, although more high school graduates are going to college, a gap in proper skill sets and experience has seen 6 million jobs go unfilled, according to statistics released from the US Department of Labor.  

Representative Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce that authored the new proposal, has stressed that much of today’s higher education was considered “irrelevant” by employers across the nation.

The GOP bill will likely take more than a year to pass Congress, according to WSJ, and could undergo substantial revisions as time went on.

On Tuesday, Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary for the Trump Administration, also called for a “major shift” from the typical reliance on a four-year degree. “Students should be able to pursue their education where, when and how it works for them and their schedules,”  said DeVos.

However, the bill is seemingly to be another source of partisan conflict. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Wednesday that the GOP bill was “extremely disappointing.” WSJ quoted her as saying that the bill “would put corporations” bottom lines ahead of students’ best interests,” and called it “another partisan step in the wrong direction.”