Roy Blunt: “I want to talk a little bit about the whole idea of loan forgiveness, student debt forgiveness. I have spoken many times…”

“I want to talk a little bit about the whole idea of loan forgiveness, student debt forgiveness. I have spoken many times on the floor about the importance of higher education--both college education and apprenticeships and other kinds of work preparation. I was the first person in my family to ever graduate from college, and later was the president of the university. And it is important, there is no doubt about that. I have often also talked about one of the reasons I think our system works so well is in post-World War II America, we have not tried to run higher education; we have tried to encourage and support higher education. You could use your student benefits, whether they were student loans or VA benefits or other benefits, at any accredited institution, and the Federal Government doesn't decide what is an accredited institution. I think the way that we have found that balance has been really important for higher education. I think it is why we have the best higher education in the world, but I think the balance is one that we ought to be thinking about maintaining. We should be concerned when we begin to get into that balance in a way that the government does more than it should do or, frankly, less than it should do. This is the 50th anniversary of the Pell Grant Program. I have been a big supporter of Pell grants. I know you have too. And during the time we have worked here together, we have expanded Pell grants to year-round Pell grants.…”