Date: 2013-05-23
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. in little more than a month. the interest rates on loans to millions of the neediest students will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. With that doubling. those that can afford it least will be burdened with more debt. With total student loan debt already surpassing $1 trillion. this Congress needs to stop that interest rate hike. that doubling of the interest rates. But rather than make it more affordable for students and families to pay for college. this Congress this day in this Chamber is debating a billI know people wont believe thisbut were debating a bill to make it more expensive for families and students to achieve a college education. At a time when college costs are rising and historic low interest rates. the majority is asking us to accept a bill that would increase interest rates. And even though the student interest rate is scheduled on July 1 to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. the bill presented on this floor today is worse than that for students and their families. It increases the drag on the economy that the student debt is to families and to young people trying to seek a job and to seek to form family. This bill is so bad that it means more than the doubling of the interest rates. How do you think that has anything to do with the market rates? According to the Congressional Research Service. when they look at this bill. you can see that under current law interest rates. they would pay $4.000. And they are doubling to 6.8 percent. so theyd pay $8.800 in interest rates. And under the Republican bill. families would pay more than $10.000 in interest. How can that possibly be in the interest of these families? How can that possibly be happening in this economy when people are struggling with interest rates? It cannot be allowed. You can see here that the parents who may have to contribute something. they would take out a loan to help their child complete a college education. they are going to pay more than $35.000 over the life of those loans than under the current law. and thats what weve got to stop from happening. And so what you see is when it is all said and done. this bill asks students over the next few years to pay more than $3.7 billion. almost $4 billion. in increased interest rates. No wonder this poor student has a headache. No wonder this parent is pounding on his head thinking. What am I going to do? But what do they say? They say we have a market rate here. We have a market rate. Well. many in America. certainly middle class families and many lowincome families. will remember the last time when we had this kind of market rate because what they have. they have a teaser rate. For your first year. theyll have a lower interest rate. So you have a teaser rate. But you know that next year that teaser rate adjusts so you dont get that rate because next year you get a new rate. And when youre a sophomore in college and you take out another loan. you get a new rate. a higher rate. And when youre a junior. you take out a loan. and you get a higher rate. And when you graduate. they take all of your loans together and give you a higher rate. Does that sound familiar to people? Thats the marketplace. Thats the marketplace when you choose to crush the people who are borrowing the money. The President has the market rate. The chairman has said many times the President is looking to use the markets to set a realistic rate. But as he sets the rate. its deficit neutral. As he sets the rate. the amendment we tried to offer was deficit neutral. He saves those students and families about $30 billion over the life of those loans. You get the difference? Yes. the markets the market. But you can pick the worst of the market. and you can pick the best of the market. Theyve chosen to pick the worst of the market for these students. Now they had options. Republicans last night in the Rules Committee had options. Mr. COURTNEY offered an amendment to keep rates at 3.4 percent. They rejected it. I offered the Presidents market approach. They rejected that. Then Mr. HECK from the Republican side of the aisle from Nevada offered to say lets provide an incentive to make sure that students in fact continue to pay on time. as they should. as the market would do because you want to incent good behavior because you get more of it. They rejected that.