Providing for Consideration of S. Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I thank the Representative from Colorado for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

S. 1098 is intended to ensure borrowers who need to separate their loans urgently because they are victims of domestic or economic abuse are not put in further harmful financial situations due to having a joint consolidation loan that cannot be separated.

Republicans fully support the intention of the bill, and it is something we should be able to address in a fully bipartisan manner. However, they are concerned that this bill misses the mark.

According to the Department of Education, this bill could not be implemented for at least a year or longer. If we want to truly solve this problem, victims need help immediately.

This bill also broadens the Secretary of Education's authority. It gives the Secretary the authority to allow for new consolidation loans if it is in the fiscal interest of the Federal Government but does not define the term.

In addition, this bill did not receive a hearing in the House Education and Labor Committee, no discussion, no input, simply accepting the Senate's version, which was introduced before the President's announcement of student loan forgiveness.

My Republican colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee have an alternative bill that will protect victims of abuse, allowing borrowers to separate their loans immediately rather than waiting up to 18 months.

It also protects taxpayers from potential abuse of authority by the Secretary of Education by narrowly tailoring the authority to help those in need. Congress should always be concerned about relinquishing authority to the executive branch.

This bill also closes all the gaps that exist in the bill that has been brought up on the floor today. Yet, my colleagues were ignored, and now we are left discussing an incomplete policy.

Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this alternative that would solve the problems without ceding more authority to the Secretary.

Madam Speaker, I oppose the rule, and I ask the Members to do the same.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I point out that the vote that my colleague does point out regarding this bill in the Senate was before the President made his announcement regarding student loan forgiveness.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, all I have to say on this rule is to listen to whatever she said, nothing of what my colleague from the State of Colorado says.

I am actually here because my good friend, Mrs. Fischbach, is allowing me to correct a mistake. I missed the 1-minute time period, so I am going to use my time to actually honor one of my constituents.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Thomas Ramage, the fifth president of Parkland College since its 1966 inception, who will retire at the end of this year following a remarkable 15 years as president and 24 years of service to the institution.

Under the leadership of Dr. Ramage, Parkland College completed a $92 million campus master plan that created six new buildings, adding 250,000 square feet of classrooms, labs, and student service spaces to provide the quality educational facilities that our students need.

During his time at Parkland, Tom has continued to adapt to the changing needs of industry, acquiring the Institute of Aviation at Willard Airport from the University of Illinois and forming lasting relationships with private-sector partners.

Under his guidance, Parkland also leads the Illinois community college system by enrolling more than 350 international students, representing well over 50 countries.

Dr. Ramage's strong fiscal management and guidance led Parkland College through a recession, a State budget crisis, and a pandemic. The legacy of excellence that he leaves behind is even stronger than when he became president in 2007.

I have had the pleasure of working with Tom throughout my decade in Congress. I am proud to call him my friend, and I congratulate him on his well-earned retirement.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule allowing for the immediate consideration of H.R. 8749 to repeal the methane emissions and waste reduction incentive program for petroleum and natural gas systems.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, just last week, a constituent called my office with concerns about the President's energy policy. Joshua hauls gas for a living and said it is the best job he has ever had, but he worries that President Biden wants to take that away. He asked for my support and expressed his appreciation for anything that I can do to protect the industry.

H.R. 8749 is a key piece of that puzzle. It supports American energy independence and all those who rely on it by protecting the Permian Basin and the largest secure supply of crude oil in the world.

If the Biden administration gets their way on this issue, production will be slowed in that region, jobs will be lost, and gas prices will continue to rise.

Madam Speaker, this Presidential administration is actively working against the oil and gas industry. They have increased natural gas production taxes, prevented energy development in Alaska, and made permitting more difficult.

They are prioritizing supplemental energy technologies like wind and solar, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration's annual energy outlook projected that petroleum and natural gas will be the most used fuels in the U.S. through 2050. We cannot abandon these reliable and essential sources of energy.

Madam Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), the author of the bill, to further explain the amendment.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, we did address some of the issues that we have and the concerns we have regarding the bill that is in front of us. But we also offered a previous question because we should be talking about energy.

The American public is concerned about energy independence and what is happening with energy; how they are going to cool and, in my case, in Minnesota, how we are going to heat our homes. It gets cold in Minnesota, and people are concerned about how they are going to heat their homes this winter and what they will have to cut out of their family budget if prices continue to rise on heating their homes.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Armstrong) to discuss it even further. And it is cold in North Dakota, too.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Just before I get into my formal remarks, I just want to mention, we did a quick Google search, because I know that my colleague from Colorado just mentioned the dropping gas prices earlier in his comments. We did a quick Google search, and in 2019, the gas prices in Colorado were $2.14, and they are currently in 2022, $3.70. So those gas prices, while you may say they are going down a bit, that is a significant increase from 2019.

Madam Speaker, S. 1098 is well intentioned, but there are other ways to accomplish this goal effectively. The current bill will not help victims of abuse for a year or more. The Republican bill would help them now.

The bill we are debating today includes vague language that creates loopholes that would allow the administration to spend billions of tax dollars on broader loan forgiveness without justification and oversight. The Republican bill closes this loophole to ensure that those who really need the help are the ones receiving it.

We owe it to the victims of abuse to have a straightforward and efficient process to help them, and we owe the taxpayers to protect their tax dollars.

Madam Speaker, I oppose the rule and encourage Members to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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