Student Loan Rate Hikes

Floor Speech

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from New York bringing up the issue of student loan rates. As he very well knows, the House has passed a bill to do this, and our problem is with the Senate and the President.

``Don't double my rate.'' Every day, students are tweeting those exact words to their Representatives. Like these students, House Republicans see that July 1 is coming, and with it the automatic doubling of some Federal student loan interest rates.

House Republicans don't believe that that rate should double or that politicians should be in charge of setting them. Weeks ago, Republicans and a few Democrats in the House passed the Smarter Solutions for Students Act, which will not only keep student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1 but will also remove politics from the equation, as well.

But the House can't do it alone. The Senate must act, and the President must lead. Right now, both are failing. In fact, it appears President Obama has completely backed down from defending his original proposal which, like our House bill, offered a permanent solution to the problem. The President is letting the opportunity to build on common ground slip by. Concerned students should ask him why.

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