On the recordApril 27, 2012
I thank my friend from Massachusetts. Just a few weeks ago on this very floor, our Republican colleagues voted for the Republican budget that called for a doubling of interest rates on student loans on 7 million American students, and they voted against the Democratic alternative budget, which would have prevented that increase in student loan interest rates. So what's happened over the last couple weeks? Well, President Obama has gone to the country. He has gone to students and he's told the story about what the Republican budget would do, and so we are here today. But make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, our Republican colleagues haven't changed their minds about this; they've changed their tactics. If they really wanted to prevent student loans from increasing, they wouldn't seek to cover the costs by cutting funds for cervical cancer screening, by cutting funds for breast cancer screening, by cutting other women's health care measures. They wouldn't push a measure the President has already said he would veto. Mr. Speaker, we have a proposal. Let's cover the cost by getting rid of the subsidies for Big Oil companies. That's the real slush fund around here. The big taxpayer subsidies go for that purpose. Let's get the job done, and let's not play political games. Unfortunately, what we're seeing here, Mr. Speaker, is an effort to seek political cover. Let's get the job done for real.
