Al Franken: “Thank you very much. We can do both the Sanders-McCain bill, the veterans bill, and we can do this, and there is a need…”

“Thank you very much. We can do both the Sanders-McCain bill, the veterans bill, and we can do this, and there is a need for this. I was proud to join Senator Warren of Massachusetts in presenting the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. I come from a State where we have the distinction of being fourth in the Nation in terms of level of debt that our students have when they graduate from college, over $30,000. Then we see people who come to graduate school with a lot more. I do college roundtables all the time. Kids are working 20, 30, 40 hours a week while going to school. I have kids telling me they are giving blood while they are in school. We need to address this. This is only a part of what we need to do when talking about the costs of college, but why is it possible to refinance a home loan in this country, people are able to refinance their car loans, they are able to refinance a business loan, but they cannot refinance their student debt? That makes no sense. This has become a macroeconomic issue. Economists agree that because of the level of student debt--and if someone is paying 10 percent interest on it, it makes a huge difference--they are not able to save enough to put a downpayment on a house or they are not able to buy a car, they are not able to move out of their parents' house. This would help 550,000 Minnesotans--550,000 Minnesotans. That is 1 out of every 10 Minnesotans.…”