John Kline: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding the time, and for introducing this legislation. I rise in support of H.R. 4628, the…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding the time, and for introducing this legislation. I rise in support of H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction Act. We seem to be in pretty strong agreement on both sides of the aisle that we've got an economy in shambles. We've got an unemployment rate above 8 percent now for over 3 years. We've got college graduates who graduate from college and can't get a job--half of them can't get a job or get the right job. They're underemployed or unemployed. And we've got, by law, the interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans going from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, by law, a law drafted, crafted, passed by my friends on the other side of the aisle. It was entirely predictable when this was passed in 2007 that this was going to happen. We were going to get to the point where interest rates were going to double. Nevertheless, it's the law. And so what do we do about it? It seems to me--and I think that we get some agreement on this--we ought to have a long-term fix so we're not doing this again next year and the next year and the next year, making a political decision. We need a long-term fix. {time} 1040 So, today, we're trying to step up and address the immediate concerns of our students, our graduates, as they go into this shaky economy. So we're moving the interest rate in this legislation, keeping it at 3.4 percent for 1 more year.…”