president lincoln

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Remarks on the House Floor on May 21, 2013 "Once again, our youth are facing a student loan rate crisis. Mister Speaker, George Washington Carver once said, "Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom." Nowhere is this truer than in this country, where we know for a fact, access to a quality education is the ladder to a better and richer tomorrow. Providing access to education is in America's DNA and goes back to when two of our "Founding Fathers" — Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson — established state universities. This tradition continued in 1862, when President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to create land-grant colleges, an effort to promote higher education for working class citizens. Nearly a hundred years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965, and thus, the Pell Grant was created. Today, an affordable college education is more important than ever in our history. In the next decade, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. In order to compete for the jobs of the future, our children must be equipped and not saddled with debt. Congress has a duty to ensure federal education assistance is both affordable and accessible. On July 1st, if Congress does not act, rates for college students taking out subsidized Department of Education loans are scheduled to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Unfortunately, Mister Speaker, this week the House, the place affectionately referred to as the "People's House," will consider a bill that would do more harm than good. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle will bring the so-called "Smarter Solutions for Students Act" to the House floor. This bill is not a "smart solution." In fact, it is not a solution at all. It actually makes it more expensive for students and parents than if Congress did nothing and let the interest rates double. To be clear, I want to ensure Americans know exactly what Republicans are proposing. The Congressional Budget Office found that this bill will cost students and parents $3.7 billion in additional student loan interest charges over the next 10 years. So why propose such a bill? Why would Members of Congress claim that this is a good bill? Believe it or not, this legislation is an attempt to move closer to a balanced budget on the backs of college students. The true purpose of this legislation is to squeeze out revenue to pay down the federal debt. Yes, we will vote on a bill this week that seeks to decrease the federal deficit on the backs of a generation already being called "Generation Jobless." This legislation totally ignores the fact that student loan delinquency and default rates are already exceedingly high. Due to the recession and unemployment, nearly 20 percent of student loan borrowers were 90 days or more behind in payments at the end of 2012. In addition to the student loan rate crisis, I must mention the Department of Education's PLUS Loans crisis. Another crisis that is breathing down the backs of college students. Over the last few years, thousands of students have been sent home from college because their PLUS Loans were denied after the school year commenced. HBCUs have lost millions in revenue. The CBC recently met with Secretary Duncan and requested that the Department reverse course to stop the bleeding. As a result, the Department is sending out notifications in an effort to get students back into school and hearings will be held around the country this month and next month. College presidents, students and parents must speak up and demand a change. The CBC will continue to push back and speak out as the future of student loan programs is debated. We will not stand by and watch Congress or the Department of Education hurt our students' chance at a better tomorrow. Not on our watch."