Student Loan Debt

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for leading us in this Special Order to focus on what is a very strong concern that some in the House have for the costs of higher education.

We have prided ourselves as a society on our intellect and our intellectual capacity. That has driven all sorts of entrepreneurship. It has driven new product lines, prototypes that are developed. It really provides for a comeback as an economy, based on the intellect that we can drive into the equation for us as an American society.

So it is very important to be able to make certain that whatever those skills, those talents, those abilities, those likes, those passions are of students out there, that they pursue their intellectual development in a way that is not stifled or diminished by the cost of student loans.

As you heard from Representative Garamendi, that loan activity-- student loan debt--rivals that of automobile loans and house loans. Something of the caliber of $1.2 trillion in debt for student loans is not a driving factor that will build our economy. It is one that will have people paying for years and decades for the experience of a higher education.

People are adjusting their dreams, they are adjusting their goals, simply by looking at what debt they can assume or what the salary structure may be. That is telling us we are not fitting our skill set or our intellectual ability to the most appropriate journey that we can travel as students because of the debt situation.

Now, there are many things that we can do. And that was outlined. Representative Garamendi, I look at the student population in New York. I look at the wonderful institutions we have: higher ed institutions, public and private sector, a community college environment that is tremendously strong. Many will suggest that is the campus of choice these days, for economic reasons and for very practical reasons.

So we shouldn't limit that choice because we are not open to change in this arena. We have got to side, I believe, with consumers out there--that being students and their families--making certain that items like loan forgiveness, revisiting our loans and refinancing those loans so they are more affordable and forgiveness that comes for those that may start a business or a social enterprise and assistance that might be given them.

I know Secretary Clinton has made mention of that in her campaign for President, making certain that in distressed communities there would be loan forgiveness, I believe, by as much as $17,500, and making certain that we are utilizing the strength of our intellectual capacity, driven by desires of students out there that can then champion the cause of the growth of our economy. But we have to be mindful of the debt with which they are saddled, that we may diminish those dreams, we may suffocate those dreams, simply by the lack of affordability of investing in one's future.

So I stand with our colleagues in the House. I stand with Representative Garamendi on the issue of refinancing college loans, making certain that, if you can revisit the situation for your mortgage, why not be able to go forward and revisit that student loan debt that you assume?

Again, in Secretary Clinton's package, she speaks of the opportunity for, I believe, some 25 million borrowers in this country to be able to save upward of $2,000 on their college loan simply by refinancing at today's rates.

So there is an opportunity for us to be constructive and creative in responding to the needs of our students. We have got to do that. That has to be of utmost priority in this House and in this Congress so that we can go forward and alleviate, however possible, the burden of that student loan debt. No society can continue to function adequately and effectively without addressing the cost of that higher education.

These are tools, the higher education opportunities are the tools in the kit that enable people to truly aspire to their dreams, to their goals, and to be able to utilize fully their given abilities that have been fostered and nurtured and brought to the forefront. That discovery is made through K-12, and it is denying that self-discovery of what your strengths are, simply by the cost of a college loan, that is diminishing that opportunity.

So let's go forward. We know what to champion here in terms of forgiveness of repayment of direction that can be fostered by the Department of Education, where there can be, again, a revisiting of loans, refinancing those loans in a powerful way that enables us, again, to do the economically strong thing for this Nation and for individual students and their families.

You know, as was made mention by the gentleman from California, these are loans that are visited not only years, but decades into the post- higher ed experience, where people are then hampered when it comes to other choices of growing a family, having a family, raising that family, maintaining a household.

These are situations that we need to address so that the freedom of choice to these individual students is fully freedom, fully allowed to be addressed by them, as individuals who want to make choices for their future.

Again, thank you, Representative Garamendi, for leading us in this Special Order.

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Mr. TONKO. Well, let me just make mention that--associating my comments with those that you just made about the opportunities for working families to have that tuition issue addressed, I believe that would cover some 80 percent of American families, which, to me, is a tremendously strong number universe.

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Mr. TONKO. Would be able to participate in that program. I think that when we start to address those numbers, you can imagine the impact that that would have on revitalizing our economy, producing the talent that we need.

You know, I am impressed with the startup businesses that students at various campuses that I represent are being offered, these wonderful startup opportunities that are tremendously creative and innovative, and that was all triggered by--the inspiration came through work in the classroom and in labs that they may have in pursuing their degree.

This is the sort of climate that you want to grow, not shrink; and that is why these opportunities for these many, many families in this Nation--to have that benefit, that is how we prosper.

Also, when we talk about Secretary Clinton's plan, I believe it is that there is the proposal to make certain that community colleges be free for all families, for all working families, making certain that we are in compliance with what the President has suggested many times over during his administration, the sought-for degree, that working knowledge of an associate's degree, where there is oftentimes hands-on experience through that matriculation.

It is so important for us to recognize that community colleges oftentimes speak to the needs in an atypical fashion, where there may be individuals working and going to school, raising a family, going to school, keeping it close to home, so that there is affordability in that regard; and making certain that, again, we have that need for the business community, for the commerce community, to be met so that this hands-on training, educating, matriculating is made possible through the community college which oftentimes is the campus of choice.

So I think it is putting all the dynamics of what is changing in our society into a working order. And I have to compliment Secretary Clinton for having that commitment, making that commitment to students, their families, our Nation, our economic resurgence, our recovery, and, certainly, to the innovation economy that finds us working within an international marketplace, where we can't afford to go backward or stand still. We need to go forward, and a plan like this will enable us to empower the engine of higher education that then takes us to new levels.

We have talked about this many times over. There is a pioneer spirit in this Nation. I am a host community to the original pioneer spirit, I believe, in terms of an Erie Canal movement that sparked a westward movement and an industrial revolution. You see it with all sorts of tech valleys that have driven the economy.

These are the dynamics of which we speak so often on this floor, that need to be heeded, need to be made priority in our agenda of getting work done so that this Nation can again stretch its opportunities to all the folks that we can so that we will then provide those opportunities which create that intellectual capacity.

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Mr. TONKO. I think that, certainly, there is no denying that the training of the workforce of the future requires all sorts of insertion of technology, hands- on, cutting edge, perhaps ahead-of-the-curve sort of mentality applied in the classroom, and that can happen when we invest and invest appropriately.

You talk about the Secretary's plan--Secretary Clinton's plan. I believe she extends that beyond business. It can be social enterprise also, so you can help distressed communities with these startups and everybody wins. It's an across-the-board win situation. And, you know, it is the kind of focus we need for that front end of life, for that early-in-professional-development stages of our economy on the age spectrum scale.

To your point, there also needs to be compassion expressed and concern expressed for the opposite end, for the more senior in our society. And you and I have seen what investments are required there, including those for caregivers who provide respite for what is a growing phenomenon there with Alzheimer's in the senior elements of our society.

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Mr. TONKO. Right. Absolutely. I see it. It is the walk taken by many, many families that I represent. I have to share with you that it has touched my family also. So it behooves all of us to be there in this universal format to speak to what is a growing, growing problem.

I was struck by the dollar figures you shared and the bankrupting of our situation with Alzheimer's and student loans. We are driving--we are driving such heavy burdens on to all of us as a society that it challenges us to come forward with some order of prevention and some order of hope that will be driven into the efforts that we currently share to speak more wisely and speak more compassionately to these situations.

I am reminded that the brain is the least researched organ of the body. Now, that alone should speak to us forcefully. Think of not only Alzheimer's but the many neurologically based situations that affect numbers of people out there from the very young to the more senior, the most senior. The brain, as an organ, needs to be researched, and so we need to make certain that we share that message here in the halls of government. Let's bring the hope to the doorstep of individuals who are rendered hopeless at times, who see their loved ones crumble and become someone different. We know that we can invest in that research and that we do have the minds that can lead us in those research attempts and efforts.

When we look at the budget for Alzheimer's, less than one cent of every dollar invested in speaking to and treating Alzheimer's disease is spent on research. We had put together legislation a couple of sessions ago now that require that we have these Alzheimer's townhalls and put together a plan as a nation to speak to conquering the effects of Alzheimer's. It meant that we have to have certain orders of budgeting done to speak to Alzheimer's.

Then we further improved upon that with legislation that said that this budget is not going to be put together with its guidelines in an ordinary process. It was going to bring in the clinicians and the professionals who speak to the Alzheimer's issues as a disease, and they will put together this professional budgeting that will tell us from now to 2025 what that budget will be, what the demands on the system should be.

So that, again, renders a budget that is speaking to the soundness of numbers for the investment made to conquer Alzheimer's. I think that is the professional approach to be taken. It is the compassionate approach to be taken.

Now we are working on issues, on legislation, that will allow for coverage, Medicare coverage, for planning when you, as an individual, and better said, as a family, are impacted by Alzheimer's, let's do the planning. What should we expect? How do we walk through this with the greatest amount of dignity and effectiveness? That planning will be covered if this legislation were to be approved.

So there are things we can do here. It really is a challenge, I believe, in these times to make certain that research dollars are available that will, again, study the organ in the body that is least researched, Representative Garamendi. I know that, by pushing our colleagues who share our beliefs on this issue, we can get it done.

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Mr. TONKO. I think, too, it speaks to the priorities, again, that we need to carve into the budget work that we do. We make a statement with the budget. We identify with the great public, the great many of us, as to what we believe are those champion issues and what we need to take into concern first and foremost. While we may have cast this into opposite ends of the age spectrum, what really strikes me is, when the Alzheimer's advocacy community comes to Washington on their given fly- in day, every year you hear of numbers going lower and lower in the population, so that you begin to wonder: Is this genetics, is it geriatrics, or is it environmental? What is driving it? But lower and lower creeps the age.

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Mr. TONKO. When some of the early onset occurs.

So, again, it affects all of us in a way that, while you may research Alzheimer's or dementia in a broader sense, it unlocks the door to untold possibilities of discovery, genetic discovery, whatever it might be, gene therapy, gene awareness that might come about that speaks to a plethora of issues that affect the brain.

So many, many are graced with the opportunities of research. We as a nation can partner--the private sector, academia--with the public, with the government. It is the message that I hear as a contrast, government isn't an enemy force. Our domestic investment has shrunk in many ways. We need to ramp up the opportunities for hope, for discovery, for intellectual capacity, and for achieving our dreams. We can do that by this concerted effort to do it with our eyes wide open and with a sense of morality driven by the heart-filled and soulful attempts to really adjust our framework to go to those issues that require the partnership of our government.

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Mr. TONKO. Yes. I again thank the gentleman from California for bringing us together this evening for discussion on what I believe are very high-priority items that face us in this Congress. I think it is important for us to speak with that anecdotal evidence and to put a human face on all of these discussions. We talk about illnesses like Alzheimer's, dementia, and neurologically based issues. There is also an issue of the illness of addiction that can be benefited; it can be responded to by research.

So my pledge always to my district and, similarly, their request of me is to provide for that human empathy, provide for those stories, the countless stories of individuals who walk the journey that is so very difficult and how they could be assisted simply by the burning sense of hope that we can address, that we can bring to their lives, this focus and this commodity of hope that provides them the extra energy and the ability to walk their journey, walk straight through the bit of difficulty that faces them.

We are a great Nation. We can be made even greater by our intellect investing in research, investing in student loan reform, and investing in Alzheimer's, a disease that can bankrupt the system. These are wise choices driven by human compassion and responded to, I hope, with a passion that you hear from the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi), and that all of us need to embrace as we walk this journey together and make certain our government is an effective government responding wholeheartedly to a given cause.

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