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

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. I rise in opposition to this bill. Why?

It increases the cost of student debt for millions of Americans just trying to continue their education. It is just another example of the House majority who would put a further burden on the middle class and working families.

Without broad access to a good college education and the opportunities and the social mobility that it provides, there will be no middle class in America. The compact will be broken that allows hard work to pay off and allows future generations to do better.

The costs of college are high today. Over the last 30 years, the average tuition at a 4-year State university has almost quadrupled. Sixty percent of Americans now borrow money for college.

Student loan debt last year passed the trillion dollar mark. The average student loan debt among graduating seniors is over $26,000, a heavy burden to carry into a tough job market.

This bill would compound those costs. A student with that level of debt would pay over $5,300 more in interest than they would if the current interest rates were extended, leaving them at 3.4 percent.

But this is characteristic of the Republican majority. Let me just give you an example and what they view about the opportunity for education.

In the last election, their standard bearer, Mitt Romney, when he was asked the question about increasing the student loan interest rate, this is what he replied. He said that if students need to borrow money, let them go to their parents.

Well, if your father is the head of American Motors, then, in fact, you can go and get a loan from your parents. But if they are not, and what struggling parents are doing today, if their jobs have either gone or their wages are down, or their health benefits are gone, or their home may be underwater on the mortgage because of the crushing recession that we have had, they're telling their children that they can't afford to send them to college. They can't go to their parents for a loan.

That's where my Republican colleagues would take this issue. And instead of us, here, adding further to students' debt, we should work harder to make college more affordable for families. Let us not let those interest rates double this summer.

This bill moves us in the wrong direction. I urge my colleagues to vote against it.

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