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VIDEO RELEASE: Time for Senate Democrats to Step Up, Act on Long-term Solution for Student Loan Interest Rates

WASHINGTON, D.C. , July 8, 2013
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) today joined House Republican leaders and college students on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and called on Senate Democrats to pass a long-term, market-based solution to the student loan interest rate problem.

 

July 1st is behind us now. The interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans doubled. The House passed legislation to keep that from happening - to tie student loan interest rates to the market, to the 10-year treasury, to make a long-term solution and get politicians out of the business of setting the interest rate every election year. The White House has proposed a similar solution. A bipartisan group of Senators in the Senate have proposed a similar solution. And yet there’s no action from the Senate Majority Leader. It is time for Senate Democrats to step up, take action, get a long-term solution, and give these students the surety and the relief that they need.

In May the House approved bipartisan legislation that echoed President Obama’s proposal to tie student loan interest rates to the free market. The Smarter Solutions for Students Act would have prevented new subsidized Stafford Loan interest rates from doubling on July 1st and permanently taken politicians out of the business of setting student loan interest rates. However, the Senate has failed to pass any legislation to address the student loan interest rate problem.

To learn more about the Smarter Solutions for Students Act, click here.

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