Lois Capps: “There are many times when we come to this floor and engage in heated debate, and we've heard some heated debate on this…”

“There are many times when we come to this floor and engage in heated debate, and we've heard some heated debate on this bill. But my final amendment offers us the opportunity to come together and to do something extraordinarily important: to contain the escalating cost of higher education. I want to be clear: passing this amendment will not prevent the passing of the underlying bill. If it's adopted, my amendment will be incorporated into the bill, and the bill will be immediately voted upon. Regardless of how one feels about the bill, we should all agree on a major problem facing students and their families. {time} 1600 I'm talking about the skyrocketing cost of higher education putting the American Dream way out of reach for far too many students. Mr. Speaker, my final amendment is very simple. It says that nothing in this bill should limit the Secretary's ability to reduce the cost of higher education for students. In 2007, Democrats, working with President Bush, lowered the interest rates on need-based student loans to 3.4 percent at no cost to taxpayers. This change is saving college graduates thousands of dollars in student loan payments. But unless we act soon, the interest rates on these loans will double this summer. That will cost more than 7 million student borrowers at colleges and universities across the country more than $2,800 in additional interest payments. Mr. Speaker, students cannot afford graduating from college with mortgage-size debt.…”