restoration of education program cuts, including job and vocational training, and an increase in the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,500. [Vote 39, 3/14/06; National Journal’s CongressDaily, 3/14/06; Snowe Press Release, 3/15/06] XXXX Voted Against Increasing Pell Grant Awards to $4,250. In October 2005, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have increased Pell Grant funding by $836 million in fiscal year 2006, which would have increased the maximum Pell Grant award for the 2006-07 year to $4,250. [Vote 268, 10/25/05] XXXX Voted Against Increasing the Maximum Pell Grant Award to $4,500. In March 2005, XXXX voted against an amendment that increased the discretionary spending limit in the budget by $5.4 billion to $848.8 billion to restore education program cuts and increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,500. It would decrease the five-year tax cut reconciliation instruction figure by $5.4 billion. [Vote 68, 3/17/05] XXXX Voted Against Increasing Funding For Perkins Loans $7.5 Billion. In March 2005, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have reinstated two provisions of the tax code and used $7.46 billion to increase funding under the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. The remainder would have been used to reduce the deficit. [Vote 61, 3/17/05] XXXX Opposed $4.9 Billion for Pell Grants. XXXX, on March 11, 2004, voted against the Kennedy amendment to the FY 2005 Budget Resolution, an amendment that would have provided $4.9 billion for deficit reduction and increased funding for Pell Grants by $4.9 billion. The $9.8 billion would have been offset by closing tax loopholes. The $4.9 billion increase in Pell Grants would have been enough to extend Pell Grants to 500,000 new recipients and finance an increase in the maximum Pell Grant so that it keeps pace with the rate of increase in public college tuition. [Vote 51, 3/11/04] XXXX Favored Cutting off Pell Grant Eligibility for Some Lower-Income Students. XXXX, on September 10, 2003, voted against an amendment to prohibit the Education Department from changing the way it determines student aid eligibility for Pell Grants. Democrat Jon Corzine of New Jersey, argued the change the department was ready to implement would have caused 84,000 college students to lose their eligibility for Pell Grants for the 2004- 05 school year. The department’s plan also would have reduced the number of middle-income families eligible for Stafford loans. [Vote 339, 9/10/03; New York Times, 09/12/03] XXXX Opposed $2.2 Billion for Higher Education, Including $1.7 Billion for Pell Grants. XXXX, on September 9, 2003, voted against the Kennedy amendment to H.R.2660, which was an amendment that would have provided an additional $2.2 billion for higher education, including $1.7 billion for Pell Grants, $157 million for federal work study programs, and $115 million for supplemental education opportunity grants. [Vote 331, 9/9/03] XXXX Opposed Fully Funding HOPE Education Tax Credit. McConnell, on May 22, 2001, voted against a motion to recommit H.R.1836 to the Senate Finance Committee with instructions to add an amendment to provide for a fully funded HOPE tax credit beginning in Fiscal Year 2002, and strike the reduction in the 39.6 percent tax bracket rate. [HR 1836, Vote 156, 5/22/01] XXXX Voted Against Reducing Tax Cuts and Increasing HOPE Education Scholarship Credits. In 2001, XXXX voted against gradually reducing the tax relief provided for the top bracket to 36.6 percent instead of to 36 percent, and increasing the size of HOPE higher education scholarship tax credits that could be claimed by including transportation expenses, daycare expenses, computer purchases, textbook purchases, and other expenses in the calculation of the cost of attendance. The amendment was rejected, 43-56. [HR 1836, Vote 155, 5/22/01] XXXX Voted Not To Make Tax Cuts Contingent On Pell Grant Increases. In 2001, XXXX voted against denying tax rate reductions in the 39.6 percent tax bracket in any year in which sufficient funding was not provided to increase the maximum Pell Grant amount to the level required in this amendment; the maximum amount would have to be at least $4,250 in 2002 and by 2010 it would have to be $7,450 (Pell Grants are given to low-income Americans to pay higher education expenses). The motion was rejected, 45-54. [HR 1836, Vote 153, 5/22/01] 69