Tom Harkin: “my amendment cuts the tax on subsidized student loans by 25 percent--from 4 percent to 3 percent. So it puts more actual…”

“my amendment cuts the tax on subsidized student loans by 25 percent--from 4 percent to 3 percent. So it puts more actual money into the pockets of students so they can buy textbooks. It also continues to pay guaranty agencies over the next 5 years. If you hear an argument that somehow this is going to put our guaranty agencies at risk and jeopardize the banks, I point out that even under my amendment by cutting this tax by 25 percent on students, the guaranty agencies will get almost $4.6 billion over the next 5 years, more than enough to handle any contingency. So this basically is a tax cut for students. It is supported by a long list of colleges and student organizations. I think it is the least we can do for our students--to give them a tax break, also.”