Kelly Ayotte: “I have great respect for the senior Senator from Tennessee, but I disagree with him on his objection to extending the…”

“I have great respect for the senior Senator from Tennessee, but I disagree with him on his objection to extending the Perkins Loan Program for 1 year. This is why I disagree. I very much appreciate the work he has laid out and the goals he has laid out in reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. Certainly, I think we all want to make sure it is easier for students to repay their loans, and I share the goal of also making college more affordable and more accessible for everyone. But as I look at this timeframe of where we are with the work that will be done by the HELP Committee, which the Senator from Tennessee chairs, by the end of the year, this is, unfortunately, what happens too often in Washington. With the Perkins Loan Program, 5,000 of our students in New Hampshire receive a loan from this program. So it is important to 5,000 Granite Staters. If we wait until the end of the year and let it lapse, and then the Committee does its work, there are so many other pressing things that need to be addressed in the Senate--this is pressing too--and if we don't get to it, we are in the position where the Perkins loans lapse. I appreciate the work done by the HELP Committee--which I hope is bipartisan--to address this important issue of making it easier for students. But I don't think we should let this program lapse in the interim. I think there is a very reasonable position here to say, let's extend this program and not leave people hanging out there.…”