Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the amendment under consideration is, first and foremost, bad for borrowers but is also another partisan attempt to complete the socialist takeover of the student loan marketplace. This debate detracts from the underlying bill's important work of providing for the national defense. In a functioning Congress, this student loan policy dispute would be reserved for the committee of jurisdiction, not the National Defense Authorization Act. While the amendment may sound beneficial to private loan borrowers, it inserts the Federal Government into private transactions in which neither party asked for assistance. The authors of this amendment assume prior education loan borrowers are all struggling to meet their obligation and that borrowers need a year-long reprieve from making their agreed-upon payments. The fact is, private student loan borrowers must typically go through rigorous underwriting standards and find a cosigner before taking on debt. These critical features lead to a much better performing portfolio than the Federal student loan program. Only 2.7 percent of private student loans are in default, compared with the Federal student loan cohort default rate of over 10 percent. There are existing options like forbearance to weather the storm without Federal Government interference.…”