Tom Harkin: “the amendment I just sent to the desk really can be called the Tax Reduction for College Students Amendment, because…”

“the amendment I just sent to the desk really can be called the Tax Reduction for College Students Amendment, because that is exactly what it is. So all Senators who are interested in cutting taxes, I say listen up because this is your amendment because that is what this amendment does. It cuts taxes, and it cuts taxes for college students. Let me explain. First of all, I would like to say the legislation we are considering today, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, is a strong bill. There are many positive features of this legislation. I want to commend Senators Jeffords, Kennedy, Coats, and Dodd for putting together a strong bipartisan bill. However, I believe that this amendment I am offering will do more to strengthen it even further. So the amendment is simple. It cuts the tax which has become known as origination and insurance fees. But a tax by any other name is still a tax. That is what it is. This amendment cuts this tax, this student tax, by 25 percent. In other words, it cuts it from 4 percent to 3 percent for students with Federally subsidized guaranteed and direct student loans. It is paid for by eliminating or reducing excessive government subsidies paid to the student loan middlemen--the guaranty agencies. My amendment eliminates the 1-percent insurance fee paid by students on the subsidized Federal family education loans, and reduces the origination fee on subsidized direct loans by one point.”