Political Quotes

“Madam President, through the Chair I would like to direct a question to the Senator from Iowa. I respect the leadership he has shown on this issue and so many issues, whether it is health, education, or disabilities. He has been the voice of leadership in the Senate for a long time. I know this is his last term as a Senator, but I also know he still has one big job ahead of him, and he has talked about it--the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. We are going to hold the Senator to that because we need his voice and leadership in that room or it won't happen. I saw his leadership on this particular issue. Senator Harkin came to this negotiation with conservative Democrats and Republicans and sat down and said: There are some basics we are going to have to include in this before I will sign off. I remember this--No. 1, keep the interest rates as low as possible for students so that students and their families don't have an increased burden. As he said, in the next 2 years--whatever category of a student loan we are talking about--this bill is a break. For undergraduate students, it saves $2,000 in interest over the next 4 years that they otherwise would pay if this bill fails to pass. The second thing he said: We want a cap on interest rates so that if something unforeseen happens, if all the economic predictors are wrong and the base interest rate on 10-year Treasurys goes up faster than we thought, there will be a cap to protect the students.…”