Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1911, Smarter Solutions for Students Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentlelady from New York.

T-minus 38 days, 38 days until student loan interest rates are scheduled to increase from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.

Mr. Speaker, in my district in Colorado, students trying to finance their education through Federally subsidized loans at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University and our other fine universities and, indeed, across the country simply can't afford, in a low interest rate environment today, with the sluggish economy, to have their rates double--double--in 38 days.

Look, there's been a lot of good ideas that have been presented that would allow student loan rates to remain the same or even get better. We had, in our committee, the Education and Labor Committee, a Courtney amendment, which I supported, our Democratic substitute, to keep them at 3.4 percent.

There are even proposals to lower them beyond that. I have a bipartisan bill with Representative Petri that moves the program over to earnings-contingent education loans, so that repayment amounts are contingent upon how much somebody is earning.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, I oppose the rule because it hasn't allowed any of these ideas to be brought forward to the floor.

I was glad to see our ranking member, Mr. Miller, bring forth the President's proposal, which includes Earnings Contingent Education Loans. Unfortunately, the Rules Committee did not make it in order under this rule, which is why I oppose it.

The underlying bill is a step in the right direction towards the President's proposal. I think it provides the framework which we need to improve upon in the Senate and work with the administration over the next 38 days to prevent student loan rates from doubling.

First of all, to be clear, the proposal before us on the underlying bill is not the President's proposal. It does not include a robust earnings contingent income-based repayment program. It also charges a higher rate of interest above the 10-year Treasury note. To its credit, the Kline-Foxx bill does include a cap on interest rates, which is very borrower friendly and student friendly. Again, what's critical here is it provides a framework for moving forward over the next 38 days to resolve this issue and prevent student loan rates from doubling.

The Washington Post editorialized on this 2 days ago and said that the Education and Workforce Committee bill is ``a similar policy'' to President Obama's policy, namely, pegging the student loan rates to a rate at which the government borrows, providing more certainty to borrowers, and helping make sure that college can remain affordable.

I call upon my colleagues to oppose the rule and the underlying bill.

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