On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed Resolution 38, a piece of “legislation directing spending cuts to the fiscal year 2008 levels or less on the floor of the House today,” according a press release from the Committee on Appropriations.

House Appropriations Chairman Harold Dallas “Hal” Rogers said in support of the resolution, “This resolution will help our effort to reduce discretionary spending to fiscal year 2008 levels, and show the American people today that we are serious about reducing the out-of-control government spending that is hampering our economic growth.” He is a Republican representative from Kentucky.

Cutting the federal funding to the levels of 2008 would cause a 24 percent reduction of the funding for the Pell Grant.

According to The United States Student Association, the Pell Grant award helps approximately nine million low-income students attend universities every year.

Additionally, there will be a 17 percent reduction in federal student financial aid, decreasing the federal funding from $19.3 billion to 16.1 billion, if the resolution is passed in the Senate.

Of the far reaching cuts, Congressman Rogers said “Let there be no mistake: The cuts that are coming will not be easy to make. They will not represent ‘low-hanging fruit.’”

Jake Stillwell, Communications Director of United States Students Association said “The United States Student Association (USSA) vehemently opposes this resolution as an irresponsible and shortsighted way to deal with the country’s deficit,” of Resolution 38 in a press release. He added that the recession has depleted state governments of their higher education funding, making these federal investments “increasingly vital to our nation’s college students.”