Political Quotes

“Mr. President, let me thank the Republican leader for cooperating. We are attempting to move forward legislation with respect to student loans. We will shortly reach July 1. At that point, the student loan rate for subsidized Stafford loans doubles from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. The legislation I propose would be a 1-year extension of the 3.4-percent rate, allowing students, low- and middle- income students to continue to benefit from a low interest rate. Our core principles in advancing this 1-year extension of present law are that we believe--and I think this is shared by all of my colleagues--that talented students deserve access to a college education. They need affordable loans and Pell grants and other financial aid. We also believe interest rates should not be set any higher than necessary to protect the taxpayer and break even on the program; that it should not be a profit center for the Federal Government as it is today. We also believe very strongly that when students take these loans out, particularly the subsidized loans, they deserve predictability. They should know how much they will have to repay. So if you are going to go for an adjustable rate, there has to be a reasonable cap. In fact, my understanding is in the history of the Federal Student Loan Program there has either been an adjustable rate with a cap or a fixed rate. We have never left students solely at the mercy of the market.…”