Political Quotes

“I want to join Senator Reed of Rhode Island, who just spoke very persuasively about the need to freeze interest rates for Stafford loans for college students in America. He also spoke, I thought very convincingly, about closing a tax loophole that has clearly been used to avoid--legally--taxes by lobbyists, consulting groups, lawyers--all of whom are using this tax loophole to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, in many cases. The case of former Senator John Edwards and his law firm--not like most law firms but in his law firm--and former Speaker Newt Gingrich, one a Democrat and one a Republican, have shown the size of this loophole and how it can turn into tens of thousands of dollars. I am not accusing either of these gentlemen of doing anything illegally-- only taking advantage of a loophole we should close. I come to the floor to make the case how important these subsidized Stafford loans are to college students. In my State of Ohio--as in the State of the Presiding Officer, the State of North Carolina--we have hundreds of thousands of students using these Stafford subsidized loans; in Ohio, some 380,000; in North Carolina I assume it is not too far off that. Students have enjoyed, if that is the right word, 3.4 percent interest rates on their loans rather than something higher. What is discouraging is that this was a bipartisan effort.…”