[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    CONGRESS MUST SAVE STUDENT LOANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, House Republicans will release their 
long-awaited and overdue budget proposal. While much of the public 
attention has focused on the Republican plan to cut Medicare, there is 
another aspect of the plan that is equally troublesome. The GOP budget 
plan cuts $12.4 billion over the next 5 years from the Stafford Student 
Loan Program. These cuts translate into the largest increase in college 
tuition costs in history.
  In Connecticut, the Republican cuts in student aid would mean that 
39,000 students would pay $127 million more for college over 5 years. 
By eliminating interest-deferred Stafford loans, Republicans will add 
$4,547 to the cost of an education for the average college student in 
Connecticut. Now, $4,500 may not be much money to Newt Gingrich or Dick 
Armey, but I assure you that $4,500 is plenty to working families in my 
district. It is plenty of money to Gail Baxter of West Haven, CT.
  Just recently, I met Gail at a student loan forum I sponsored. Gail 
told me that she was worried about what cuts in student loan programs 
would mean for her family. And, it is no wonder she is worried. You 
see, Gail is a single mother who, in the fall of 1995, will have four 
children in college. That means four college tuitions. And, under the 
Republican plan, it means four increases of $4,500. All totaled the 
Republican plan to cut student loans, could cost this working family 
nearly $20,000.
  But, any single mother who can get four children to college, is not 
someone who throws up her hands when faced with an obstacle. And, Gail 
Baxter wasn't about to take these student loan cuts sitting down. So, 
she got to work and started a petition drive. I told her if she 
collected the signatures that I would deliver them to the chairman of 
the House Budget Committee. In just a few weeks time, Gail collected 
the signatures of 630 parents, like herself.
  The petition simply reads: We the undersigned oppose any attempts to 
cut Federal student assistance that assist hard-working American 
families.
  Like the parents who signed Gail Baxter's petition, students in my 
district are also concerned about cuts in student aid. They do not 
think it is right that government cut student loans in order to pay for 
another tax cut for the wealthy. And, they are right.
  Students from Quinnipiac College in Hamden, CT, organized a letter 
writing campaign to bring their message to Congress. The wrote hundreds 
of letters to various leaders in Congress. Here is one sample from 
Laurel Drumm of Quinnipiac College. She writes:

       Recent reports suggest you are considering the biggest cuts 
     in the history of student aid. While we applaud congressional 
     efforts for responsible deficit reduction, cuts in student 
     aid just don't make sense. Student aid actually saves 
     taxpayers money by stimulating economic growth, expanding the 
     tax base and increasing productivity. That's why every major 
     opinion poll shows strong support for student aid programs.
       The cuts under consideration would increase the student 
     loan indebtedness by up to 50 percent and reduce grants and 
     work-study funding. The bottom line is these cuts will make a 
     college education unobtainable for many of us.
       The opportunity to go to college is a privilege that should 
     be everyone's right. Please don't cut our future short. Don't 
     cut student aid.

  Mr. Speaker, student loans are the ladder to the American dream. Many 
of us in this body relied on student loans to pay for our educations. 
Let us not pull up the ladder of opportunity behind us. The Gail 
Baxters and the Laurel Drumms of the world are counting on us to do 
what is right and save student loans.


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