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Capitol View®
Catharine Richert

PoliGraph: Anti-Kline ad doesn’t tell the whole story

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poligraph-misleading

Democrats in Washington are taking their case against 2

nd

District U.S. Rep. John Kline to students at the University of Minnesota.

An ad last week in the University’s newspaper the Minnesota Daily says Kline, who is chair of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, voted against college affordability.

“Tuition too expensive?” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) ad states. “Last week, Congressman John Kline voted to make it harder for you to pay for school”

There’s some truth to the ad, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Evidence

Kline is among 15 House Republicans targeted by the DCCC.

The DCCC is specifically referring to Kline’s vote in favor of the House Republican budget resolution, which, among other things, freezes the maximum Pell Grant award, a scholarship that is given to undergraduate students who need financial assistance most.

According to the Washington Post, Pell Grant funding will be maxed-out in 2017 and Republicans argue that the only way to sustain the program is to freeze the maximum grant at $5,775 per school year.

So, it’s true that Kline voted for a budget that would make big changes to the Pell Grant program.

But the DCCC’s ad also requires some context.

First, the Pell Grant proposal is just one component of a 142-page document that is a blueprint for annual spending decisions made during the appropriations process. The document will never become law.

And it would be bigger news if Kline had voted against his party’s annual spending proposal. In the end, the vote was nearly on the party line, as it usually is.

Lastly, Pell Grants only apply to a segment of the population who need financial aid the most, so not everyone at the University of Minnesota qualifies. According to data from the University of Minnesota, about 7,500 undergraduates of the school’s more than 28,000 students get Pell Grants.

The DCCC ad doesn’t specify this, and it implies that Kline voted for a measure that would make it harder for all students to pay for college.

Kline spokesman Troy Young said that Kline has made other efforts to make collage more affordable.

“When Washington’s political gridlock threatened to double student loan rates, Congressman Kline wrote the bipartisan law that lowered student loan rates and he was pleased to join President Obama when the bill was signed into law,” Young said.

The Verdict

It’s true that Kline voted for a budget proposal that freezes Pell Grant awards, which could make it harder for some students to pay for college in the future assuming tuition rates rise.

But the DCCC claim also deserves some context. For instance, the ad leaves out the fact that most students at the University of Minnesota wouldn’t be affected by the changes Kline supports.

For glossing over this important context, the DCCC ad earns a misleading.