President Bush expands Pell Grants - liberals outraged

The MSM, blogs, and online forums are abuzz with word that Pell Grant eligibility is being changed and that will result in 80-90 thousand grants being dropped and 1.3 million grants being reduced. Here's a typical example of the liberal Bush-bashing reaction to this news:

The United States Department of Education announces today that is is cutting Pell grants to underprivilaged college students. Ninety-thousand students will lose all eligibility, and 1.3 million students will have their grants reduced.

This action comes at a time when Americans lag behind people in all the other industrialized nations, in every subject from from math to science to the liberal arts.

What are President Bush and his education secretary thinking? Are they content for our nation to become a second-rate society? Is education a priority in America, or isn't it?

Sadly, these sorts of people don't read much beyond the headlines. Further down the CNN article, we find this:

"Our projections show an increase in the number of students receiving Pell Grants next year and nearly half of Pell recipients are eligible for the maximum award and won't be affected." [DOE press secretary Susan Aspey]

Also, in this Washington Post correction (reg. req.), we find the following:

The headline on a Dec. 24 article about the Education Department's new formula for federal college scholarship aid incorrectly said that fewer students will be eligible for Pell Grants. Although 80,000 to 90,000 grantees at the higher-income end will be dropped from the Pell program in the 2005-2006 academic year, the department expects more students to be eligible overall because of a rising number of low-income high school graduates.

So the dropping of grants to higher-income students (who I guess won't be able to spend as much on their cars, parties, CDs, etc. anymore) and cutting a couple hundred dollars off of grants that are already a couple thousand dollars or more (max. award of $4,050) will result in an overall increase in the number of grant awards to low-income students. Isn't this a good thing?

The liberals sure are desperate to find something of substance to criticize President Bush and those in his administraion for, aren't they? Autopens...increases in the total number of Pell Grant awards... They are obviously doing a really good job if these are the best things liberals can come up with.