Dick Durbin: “I thank my colleague from Michigan for her statement because it raises a theme which we really need to focus on in the…”

“I thank my colleague from Michigan for her statement because it raises a theme which we really need to focus on in the Senate. I went back to Illinois this last weekend, traveling around, as I have over the last several months. After a person has been in this world of politics for a while, it doesn't take long to sit down with most gatherings and crowds and kind of test out ideas. People either fold their arms and look at the ceiling and pray you stop talking or they start getting on the edge of their chair and listening. What I have found over the last several weeks is that everywhere I go, everywhere in the State--downstate small towns, medium-sized cities, and the city of Chicago--there is one issue that has everybody sitting up and listening. The issue is student loans. We wonder why that issue would have so many people interested. It is because 34 million Americans are paying back student loans now. In the State of Illinois, there are 1.7 million people paying back student loans--1.7 million. Fifteen percent of our population is paying back student loans. There is more student loan debt in America today than credit card debt. Some of the loans these students are taking out to go to school are outrageous. There is no other way to describe it.…”