John Tierney: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. At the end of this month, the student Federal loan interest rate is set to double…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. At the end of this month, the student Federal loan interest rate is set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. It's an urgent deadline for more than 7 million American students and more than 177,000 students across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It's an urgent deadline for students that I met with at Middlesex College all the way through to Endicott College in my district and elsewhere. These students are working many jobs. They're still carrying thousands of dollars in student debt, and they're deeply concerned about the doubling of the rate that will occur on July 1. Madam Speaker, this is urgent deadline for House Democrats. We've been on top of this issue for many, many months. Our colleague, Mr. Courtney of Connecticut, introduced legislation establishing a permanent fix back in January. Our colleagues, Mr. Miller of California and Mr. Hinojosa of Texas, sent a letter to Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Mr. Kline in February asking that the question be taken before the committee to prevent the student loan interest hike. It's unfortunate, Madam Speaker, that the majority in the House of Representatives does not appear to understand or share this urgency. There are 10 days left in June, and we're only scheduled to be in session for 5 of them. As of right now, taking action to stop the doubling of the student loan interest rates is still not on the House's legislative agenda between now and the end of the month.…”