Political Quotes

“Mr. President, after months of working to ensure that the subsidized student loan interest rate does not double this summer, I think we finally have reached a consensus--middle-income families in America cannot afford a huge increase, a doubling in the interest rate on student loans. Those who were previously opposed or indifferent to our proposal now are in favor of stopping the doubling of the rate. The most prominent, of course, is the former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, who said: ``I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans.'' I think that is the consensus. It was hard fought. I submitted the legislation to keep the rate at 3.4 percent originally in January. Now we have reached that consensus. But the debate has now shifted to how do we pay for it. What I have proposed, and am joined by many colleagues, is to close a loophole that has allowed a self-selected few to avoid paying their fair share of payroll taxes. The alternative proposed on the other side goes to critical health care benefits for lower and middle-income families. It seems to me entirely unfair to try to provide help to middle-income families by taking away their access to health care. For families who are struggling, education and health care are not something that can be traded one for the other. Congress should not raise the interest rate on these loans. We have reached that agreement. It is a de facto tax on middle-income families.…”