Political Quotes

“I join in the comments of my colleague from Indiana in my concern about the makeup of the commission. I am glad there is an agreement to fix it. I do have some concern, however. In fact, I was one of the original requesters of the GAO report when I served on the committee that the gentleman from California chairs that detailed the increases in higher education last year. I have some concern with the reduction and where the money is coming from, the $849,000, in the Federal family education loan administrative account. I am concerned it will undercut the Department of Education's effort on debt collection efforts. The FFEL administration currently funds a major portion of the Stafford Perkins Data Systems contract, which processes default claims from lenders and guaranty agencies and supports the defaulted loan collection program. So that is why I am so concerned. I know typically in our process, if we provide additional oversight, for every $1 we provide we get back $5 in debt collection. But if we are taking away $849,000, I worry, are we losing a corresponding amount of $5 million in not having the $849,000? So I have some concern about the outcomes of that and I hope we can judiciously look for that money that does not hurt our efforts to collect on debt service that is owed on the student loan program.”