Take Action to Support Affordable Graduate Education

On December 2, the Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), moving tax legislation in Congress closer to potential final passage. The House version passed on November 16. The Senate version preserves provisions in the current tax code that exclude graduate student tuition waivers from income tax and maintain tax deductions for interest paid on student loans. The House-passed version would remove these provisions, increasing the cost of graduate study in political science and other disciplines. See APSA’s statement on the House bill. The House and Senate have now formed a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two versions.

Contact your representatives using the National Humanities Alliance portal and urge them to support affordable graduate education. Constituents in the districts and states listed below, whose members of Congress are on the conference committee for this legislation, can play an especially important role in urging their representatives to maintain tax provisions that benefit graduate studies.

House Conferees
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX-8)
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA-22)
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL-6)
Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-6)
Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD-At Large)
Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA-1)
Rep. Sander  Levin (D-MI-9)
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-35)

Senate Conferees
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)