U.S. Senator John Cornyn

The Daily Toreador
April 21, 2008

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, threw out the first pitch at the Texas Tech baseball game, surveyed development in northeast Lubbock and discussed the increasing cost of college education as part of a visit to the Hub City Saturday.

Before throwing the first pitch at Tech's game with Kansas State at Dan Law Field, Cornyn said he toured the King's Dominion residential sub-division - at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Erskine Avenue - to witness the progress of the North and East Lubbock Community Development Corporation in the neighborhood.

The King's Dominion neighborhood, which began construction in 2006, includes 55 new homes and is the first residential sub-division in northeast Lubbock since the mid 1950s, according to the Corporation's Web site, http://www.neldc.org/.

Cornyn said he helped secure a $300,000 Department of Health and Human Services grant to help fund the corporation's project, which will provide housing and increase the tax base for the city and state.

"It's a double benefit for the individuals as well as the city and its tax base," he said.

Blayne Beal, Tech sports information director, said Tech Chancellor Kent Hance invited Cornyn to visit the university as part of his trip to Lubbock as a friendly gesture for work the senator has done for the university.

After throwing his pitch, Cornyn discussed the federal government's role in reducing the cost of college education, "which is something people think about when they graduate from college with a $90,000 student loan debt."

Cornyn said it is necessary for legislators to approach funding college education in multiple ways because "it's part of a balancing act dealing with a limited resource like tax dollars.

"How much of that do you put on the student who benefits from the education, and how much of that does the state pick up to make sure that that burden is not overwhelming or discouraging them from going to school?" he asked.

Cornyn said he has worked on legislation that would extend for two years and increase up to $4,000 a year a tax deduction for taxpayers who pay college tuition.

"We estimate it will help Texans (who are) going to college save millions of dollars in taxes by providing a tax credit against their income for money paid for college tuition," he said.

Also, because of concern of competition from India and China in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math, Cornyn said Congress passed the America Competes Act, which ultimately will provide up to $30 billion in authorization for funds to encourage teachers to study and teach in those concentrations.

"Right now, we're not growing enough people in those areas," he said, "and obviously those are critical areas in terms of our ability to innovate, particularly in technology, and compete with countries like India and China."