With the defeat on Tuesday of two members of Congress’s education committees, and the looming retirement and departure of several other education stalwarts, Congress is losing a lot of expertise on higher-education policy, and students and colleges are losing some of their strongest advocates. Here’s a look at who will be leaving, and who will be trying to fill their shoes.
Retiring or Not Running for Re-Election
In the House:
George Miller (Democrat, California): The top Democrat on the House education committee and its former chair, Mr. Miller has been a longtime champion of working-class and poor students. Among his recent successes are securing mandatory funds for Pell Grants, halving interest rates on student loans, creating and expanding income-based repayment options, and providing direct aid to community colleges and minority-serving institutions.
Rush D. Holt (Democrat, New Jersey): When Mr. Holt leaves office, in January, Congress will be down to one physicist—Bill Foster, an Illinois Democrat—and research universities will be out a chief advocate. During his 15 years in Congress, Mr. Holt, a former college professor and lab director, helped secure billions of dollars in federal funding for science and technology research, and created the Teach grant program for aspiring mathematics, science, and foreign-language teachers.
Carolyn McCarthy (Democrat, New York): A staunch gun-control advocate, Ms. McCarthy is perhaps best known for legislation requiring colleges to notify students and faculty members within a half hour of a campus emergency—a mandate colleges contested vigorously. She has also been an ally of for-profit colleges, frequently joining a fellow Democrat, Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, in defending the institutions against Democratic Party critics. (Mr. Andrews, another leader on higher-ed issues, resigned in February amid an ethics investigation.)
Tom Petri (Republican, Wisconsin): Mr. Petri was a member of the education committee when Bill Clinton, then a presidential candidate, first proposed income-based repayment, in the early 1990s, and he has been fighting for the program’s expansion and simplification ever since. During President Obama’s first term, he was one of only a few Republicans to support ending the bank-based student-loan program.
Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (Republican, California): A former chairman of the House education committee, Mr. McKeon left that role to lead the armed-services committee five years ago, but remained active on the education committee.
In the Senate:
Tom Harkin (Democrat, Iowa): During his four decades in Congress, Mr. Harkin—currently chairman of the Senate education committee and an appropriations subcommittee on education—fought for increased funding for student aid. He worked to double the maximum Pell Grant, redirect subsidies from banks to students, and increase aid to students with disabilities. In 2010 he led a bruising investigation into for-profit colleges, uncovering abuses that prompted a federal crackdown on the sector.
Lost Bids for Re-Election
In the House:
John F. Tierney (Democrat, Massachusetts): Public colleges will miss Mr. Tierney’s efforts to stabilize state spending on colleges through “maintenance of effort” requirements. Private colleges and public flagships will miss his opposition to changes in the formula for awarding campus-based aid. The former prosecutor, who had a reputation for grilling witnesses at committee hearings, was defeated in the Democratic primary, in September.
Timothy Bishop (Democrat, New York): Mr. Bishop, who spent 29 years as a college administrator and provost at Southampton College, established himself as an authority on student aid and accreditation. Colleagues on the committee defer to him on higher-education issues, and Mr. Miller let him take the lead on crafting portions of key higher-ed bills.
Also defeated in Tuesday’s elections was another Senate education-committee member—Kay R. Hagan, a Democrat from North Carolina.
Ascending
In the House:
Bobby Scott (Democrat, Virginia): Mr. Scott, an 11-term congressman best known for his support of minority-serving institutions and college-preparatory programs, is poised to take Mr. Miller’s seat as the top Democrat on the education committee. His Republican counterpart is likely to be Rep. John P. Kline Jr. of Minnesota, who is expected to receive a waiver from term-limits rules to stay on as chairman for a third term.
In the Senate:
Patty Murray (Democrat, Washington): While her heart is in early-childhood and elementary education (she’s a former preschool teacher and PTA president), Ms. Murray has also been an advocate for homeless students making the transition to college. As the presumptive top Democrat on the Senate education committee, she is likely to push for a restoration of Pell Grant eligibility to “ability to benefit students.” She’s also a candidate to replace Mr. Harkin as chair of the appropriations subcommittee, a role that would give her a major say in the flow of money to students and colleges.
