U.S. Rep.

Jason Altmire, D-4th, joined House and Senate leadership Tuesday at an enrollment ceremony to send the College Cost Reduction and Access Act to the president's desk for his signature.The legislation, Altmire said, would make the single largest investment in college financial assistance since the 1944 GI Bill, at no new cost to taxpayers.A member of the House Education and Labor Committee, Altmire was one of a select group of House and Senate lawmakers appointed to the conference committee, where he helped to negotiate and approve the final version of the bill.The College Cost Reduction and Access Act was passed Sept. 7 by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate. President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law."The College Cost Reduction and Access Act is the single largest investment in higher education in the last 60 years," Altmire said, "boosting college financial aid by more than $20 billion and cutting interest rates on subsidized student loans in half."The legislation would increase the maximum value of the Pell Grant scholarship by $1,090 over the next five years, reaching $5,400 by 2012.The legislation also would cut the interest rates on need-based loans in half, from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, over the next four years. Once fully phased in, this would save the typical student borrower in Pennsylvania $4,400 during the life of the loan.———State Sen.

Mary Jo White, R-21st, and Senate Majority Leader

Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, last week announced that they are introducing legislation to provide funding for the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act Fund.Funding for the program that finances cleanups at contaminated sites and the investigation of illegal hazardous waste disposals, was not included in the state budget approved in July, noted White, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.The Department of Environmental Protection has indicated that the HSCA program will be shut down if a funding solution is not found."We would have preferred to avert this crisis by addressing HSCA in the budget," said Sen. Pileggi. "But this proposal is a common-sense approach that meets our obligation to the communities which rely on this important program."For the current fiscal year, the legislation allocates $15 million from existing legislative accounts to HSCA.———U.S. Rep.

Phil English, R-3rd, joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in calling on the president to release the remaining $151.5 million in emergency Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding to help families in need pay for their cooling and heating bills."A cold, harsh winter coupled with higher than average temperatures over the summer, has encumbered many local families' ability to pay for energy costs," said English, a longtime champion of the LIHEAP program."It is critical for the administration to act now and release the funds to help assist families and seniors with their heating bills for the fall and winter months ahead."LIHEAP helps low-income households across the nation by providing money to help pay for heating and air conditioning costs.In an effort to address the higher than average temperatures experienced by several parts of the country, the administration released $50 million to 12 states at the end August.In a letter, English, joined by 111 members of the House of Representatives, urged

President Bush to release the remainder of the money to ensure all states, including Pennsylvania, have adequate funding to address this emergency.If the administration fails to release the funding prior to Sept. 30, $131 million of the money will not be allocated to LIHEAP this year.———Seventeen years ago, when Pennsylvania set a $10,000 limit for municipal government purchases without formal bidding, the average cost of gasoline was $1.16 a gallon.While costs of most products and services have steadily increased over the years, Pennsylvania's threshold for formal bidding hasn't and that's something that must change, according to state Sen.

Bob Robbins, R-50th.State law, he said, places "a real burden" on municipalities."They are unable to make relatively minor purchases without the time and expense of the formal bidding process and that ends up costing the taxpayers,"said Robbins, chairman of the Local Government Commission.Robbins said he is strongly supporting a bipartisan 16-bill package and is the prime sponsor of one of the bills to update and increase the threshold for the formal bidding process.Currently, anytime a municipality plans to purchase an item or service costing $10,000 or more, it must go through the bidding process by advertising twice in a newspaper, receiving sealed bids by vendors, and voting at a public meeting on the lowest bid.The package of legislation would amend the various local government codes — including those for counties, cities, townships, boroughs and school districts — by raising from $10,000 to $25,000 the level at which local governments must go through the bidding process.———U.S. Rep.

Jason Altmire, D-4th, last week hailed enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government as the the most comprehensive ethics reform legislation in decades."This law will end the egregious abuses of the K-Street project, private jet travel, and lavish parties,"Altmire said, "and will finally return lawmaking to the basic principle that government is accountable to its citizens, not to special interests."The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act:n Enhances financial and campaign disclosure rules;n Increases criminal and civil penalties for violating the Lobby Disclosure Act to $200,000 and five years in prison;n Ends the K-Street Project, thus prohibiting private entities from hiring and firing based on politics;n Denies taxpayer-funded pension benefits to congressional members convicted of corruption while serving the American people;n Establishes an online, searchable public database of congressional member travel and personal financial disclosure forms; and,n Requires sitting congressional members to disclose job negotiations for post-congressional employment and to recuse themselves for purposes of a conflict of interest.