Smith Votes Against Increased Entitlement Spending

Press Release

Smith Votes Against Increased Entitlement Spending

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today voted against H.R. 2669, the Higher Education Reconciliation conference report, pointing to the fact the bill creates five new entitlement programs and expands the reach of government programs over non-profit and commercial lenders.

The measure contains $21.5 billion in new spending over five years while saving only $752 million for deficit reduction. The bill cuts $22.3 billion from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, to force a shift to the government's direct lending program, increasing the government's role.

H.R. 2669 spends $7.1 billion by gradually phasing down interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over four years, before allowing rates to return to the original rate in July 2012 to recover the costs of the new spending.

"What we voted on today does nothing to address the problem facing college bound students: rising college costs. Instead of holding colleges and universities accountable for how they spend taxpayer dollars, the House voted to do the exact opposite. Today, the house voted not to help students, but to expand the government.

"Budget gimmicks won't teach our children and won't make college more affordable for low- to middle-income families. Must we be relegated to simply passing legislation which sounds good but does little, rather than take a real, thoughtful look at the reasons behind the skyrocketing cost of a higher education?" Smith said.

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