Political Quotes

“The facts are as follows: There are 900,000 financial aid applications that are backlogged, and the article, Chronicle of Higher Education, the article entitled ``Sorting Out a Foul Up In Student Aid'' says the following. Student aid experts say their backlog of 900,000 financial aid applications was caused by mismanagement of the Department of Education and that it calls into question the department's ability to manage the student aid system. I congratulate the gentleman for having oversight hearings in this whole area of the Government trying to do for the private sector what we know the private sector can do best, volunteering and run a program of lending money. If the administration has its way, the student loan portfolio will be turned over to the Federal Government through the Department of Education, and they will not only process the applications, they will become bankers collecting the money for the taxpayer, lending the money as a bank would do. I suggest to you, Mr. Hoekstra, that would be a disastrous event, that they have a 900,000 backlog in just processing applications. Can you imagine if they also lent the money and had to collect the money? And their excuse for a 900,000 backlog is it snowed and the Government shut down 21 days. Both are false. The private sector gets up and goes to work when it snows because they are in it as a way of making their living.”