Political Quotes

“I wanted to come to the floor while the Senator from Massachusetts was giving her remarks and was still here to say a few things about the bipartisan student loan proposal. There are a couple of things I want to point out for the Record. She has made a point about our student loan programs and how much they cost students, and she is right about the basic $184 billion the government is going to generate over 10 years in this program. I would support a proposal to change that, but the fact is it doesn't have the votes to pass. Here is the reality. We are talking about this issue with a divided Congress. We are talking about this issue where the House of Representatives is controlled by the other party and doesn't see this issue at all the same way the Senator from Massachusetts and I do. Secondly, we are up against the filibuster rule in the Senate requiring 60 votes. We have 54 Democrats. So this global change she has spoken of and referred to is one she and I could probably agree on in a hurry but it is not going to happen. The question is: What can we do now to help students? On July 1, because we did nothing, the student loan interest rate on subsidized loans went from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Students are now facing 6.8-percent interest rates on subsidized loans. I think that is just plain wrong. What can we do about it? One version says nothing, do nothing. Don't change anything. Let the students right now continue to pay 6.8 percent.…”