[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 153 (Thursday, November 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13163-S13166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Leahy, 
        Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Harkin, Mr. 
        Akaka, Mr. Lautenberg, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Pryor, and Mr. Kerry):
  S. 2039. A bill to provide for loan repayment for prosecutors and 
public defenders; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Prosecutors 
and Defenders Incentive Act of 2005. I am honored to have the support 
and cosponsorship of Senator DeWine with whom I have enjoyed working on 
similar measures in previous Congresses. I am further pleased that 
Senators Specter, Leahy, Kennedy, Feingold, Feinstein, Akaka, Cantwell, 
Harkin, Lautenberg, Pryor, and Kerry have also agreed to join me as 
original cosponsors of this legislation. Our bill is designed to 
encourage the best and the brightest law school graduates to enter 
public service as criminal prosecutors and public defenders by making a 
student loan repayment program available to them.
  I am pleased that this legislation enjoys bipartisan support. I am 
anxious to work closely with Chairman Specter and Ranking Member Leahy 
to advance it through the Judiciary Committee and secure its enactment 
by the full Senate.

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  Our proposed loan repayment program is supported by the American Bar 
Association, the National District Attorneys Association, the National 
Association of Prosecutor Coordinators, the National Legal Aid and 
Defender Association, and the American Council of Chief Defenders.
  We can--and should--do more to help prosecutor and public defender 
offices compete with the higher salaries available in the private 
sector. In many instances, despite high aspirations and strong 
motivation to work in the public sector, many graduates find it 
economically impossible to pursue that career path due to the 
overwhelming burden of debt. The availability of student loan repayment 
can be a powerful incentive for attracting some of our most talented 
new lawyers to public service employment.
  Many of today's law graduates are finishing law school owing 
staggering amounts of student loan debt. According to the American Bar 
Association, the median total cumulative educational debt for law 
school graduates in the class of 2004 was $97,763 for private schools 
and $66,810 for public schools. Educational loan debts represent a 
serious financial obligation which must be repaid. A default on any 
loan triggers serious consequences. Moreover, the looming obligation 
can impact career choices for many new graduates.
  Many budding prosecutors and public defenders face a disheartening 
dilemma. On the one hand, they have a deep commitment to pursuing a 
career in public service. On the other hand, they need a level of 
income to meet the demands of exorbitant educational loan liabilities. 
This wrenching choice has not only personal impact but adverse 
implications for the legal profession and its commitment to ensuring 
access to justice for all citizens. And from an employer's perspective, 
comparatively low salaries and high debt make it extremely difficult to 
recruit and retain attorneys in prosecutor and public defender offices.
  The results of a special study, ``Lifting the Burden: Law Student 
Debt as a Barrier to Public Service,'' published in August 2003 by the 
American Bar Association, reflects eight key findings, which I will 
describe in more specificity in my remarks.
  First, law school tuition levels have skyrocketed. Second, the vast 
majority of law students borrow funds to finance their legal education. 
Third, law students are borrowing increasingly larger sums to finance 
their legal education. Fourth, public service salaries have not kept 
pace with rising law school debt burdens or private sector salaries. 
Fifth, high student debt bars many law graduates from pursuing public 
service careers. Sixth, many law graduates who take public service 
legal jobs must leave after they gain 2 to 3 years of experience. 
Seventh, public service employers report serious difficulty recruiting 
and retaining lawyers. And eighth, the legal profession and society pay 
a severe price when law graduates are shut out from pursuing public 
service legal careers due to high educational debt burden.
  On the matter of skyrocketing tuition levels, since the early 1970s, 
there have been steep and persistent hikes in the costs of legal 
education and in the tuition rates law schools charge. Researchers 
found that tuition increased about 340 percent from 1985 to 2002 for 
private law school students and out-of-state students at public law 
schools. In state students at public law schools saw their tuition jump 
about 500 percent. During the period 1992-2002, the cost of living in 
the United States rose 28 percent while the cost of tuition for public 
law schools rose 134 percent for residents and 100 percent for 
nonresidents, and private law school tuition increased 76 percent.
  In 1975, when private law school tuition averaged $2,525 and public 
law school tuition for in state residents was $700, the need to borrow 
to finance a legal education was not as prevalent or necessary. In 
1990, when tuition was $11,680 for private institutions and $3,012 for 
public law schools, it was at least manageable. In 2002, the median law 
school annual tuitions were $24,920 for private law schools, $18,131 
for nonresident students at public law schools, and $9,252 for resident 
students at public law schools.
  A computation of the tuition rates of the 186 ABA-accredited law 
schools for 2004 reflects that charges for State residents at public 
law schools average $10,820 per year. For nonresidents attending public 
law schools, the average tuition amounts to $20,176 per year. Students 
attending private law schools pay an average of $25,603 per year.
  Additional amounts for food, lodging, books, fees and personal 
expenses increase the costs for 3 years to more than $60,000 in almost 
all cases and well over $100,000 in many instances.
  The vast majority of law students must borrow funds to finance their 
legal education. In 2002, almost 87 percent of law students borrowed to 
finance their legal education. That level remained consistent in 2004. 
Many of these students also carried unpaid debt from their 
undergraduate studies.
  Law students are borrowing increasingly larger sums to finance their 
legal education. As tuition and other expenses of attending law school 
rose, more and more students found they needed to borrow to pay for law 
school. During the 1990s, the average amount students borrowed more 
than doubled. Today, the amount borrowed by many students exceeds 
$80,000.
  Public service salaries have not kept pace with rising law school 
debt burdens or private sector salaries. Entry-level salaries for 
government or other public service position, have always been 
significantly lower than those in private practice.
  Over the years since the mid-1970s, the median starting salaries in 
private practice have risen at a much faster pace than entry-level 
public service salaries. Between 1985 and 2002, the median starting 
salaries at private law firms rose by about 280 percent. Government 
lawyers, such as prosecutors and public defenders, saw their salaries 
increase by just 70 percent.
  According to the 2004 Public Sector and Public Interest Attorney 
Salary Report, published in August 2004 by the National Association for 
Law Placement, Inc., the median entry-level salary for public defenders 
is $39,000; with 11 to 15 years of experience, the median is $65,000. 
The salary progression for State and local prosecuting attorneys is 
similar, starting at about $40,000 and progressing to $68,000-69,000 
for those with 11 to 15 years of experience.
  In August 2004, NALP also released the results of its tenth annual 
comprehensive survey of associate compensation in private sector law 
firms. According to the 2004 Associate Salary Survey Report, based on 
salary information as of April 1, 2004 provided by 599 offices, the 
median salary for first-year associates ranged from $65,000 in firms of 
2 to 25 attorneys to $120,000 in firms of 500 attorneys or more, with a 
first-year median for all participating firms of $95,000. These figures 
evidence the stark reality of compensation differentials for those 
graduates electing to devote their skills to public service jobs as 
prosecutors and defenders.
  High student debt bars many law graduates from pursuing public 
service careers. As law school tuition and student debt have sharply 
escalated, fewer and fewer law school graduates can afford to take the 
comparatively low-paying public service positions that are available in 
government agencies or with prosecutor, public defender, or legal 
services offices.
  A national study of law school debt conducted by Equal Justice Works, 
the Partnership for Public Service, and the National Association for 
Law Placement found that law student debt prevented two-thirds of law 
student respondents from considering a public service career.
  The report was based on a spring 2002 survey of graduating law 
students. Survey respondents included 1,622 students from 117 law 
schools representing 40 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. 
Among the findings reported were the following: Overall, 66 percent of 
respondents stated that law school debt kept them from considering a 
public interest or government job. The percentage is higher among those 
who ultimately accepted jobs in small or large private firms, with 83 
percent and 78 percent, respectively, stating that debt prevented them 
from seeking work with public interest organizations or the Federal 
Government.
  Seventy-three percent of students who had not yet accepted a job when 
surveyed also indicated that they were disinclined to seek a public 
interest or government position due to heavy debt load. Providing 
$6,000 a year in available loan repayment assistance would

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result in increased interest in a post graduate Federal Government job 
for 83 percent of student respondents.
  Despite their high debt burden, some law graduates initially accept 
public service jobs. However, the magnitude of debt precipitates high 
turnover because many of these cannot repay loan obligations on a 
median starting salary of $36,000 and pay all their other remaining 
living expenses with the remaining $1,100 per month. Some who begin 
careers in public service, and who would like to remain, leave after a 
few years when they find their debts are too severely constraining on 
their hopes for making ends meet, much less raising children or saving 
for retirement.
  Many public service employers report having a difficult time 
attracting the best qualified law graduates. Public service employers, 
such as prosecutor or public defender offices, have vacancies they 
cannot fill because new law graduates cannot afford to work for them. 
Alternatively, those who do hire law graduates find that, because of 
educational debt payments, those whom they do hire leave just at the 
point when they have acquired the experience to provide the most 
valuable services.
  The legal profession and society pay a severe price when law 
graduates are shut out from pursuing public service legal careers due 
to high educational debt burden. Lawyers with dreams of serving their 
communities as prosecutors or public defenders are unable to use their 
skills to do so. And when governments cannot hire new lawyers or keep 
experienced ones, the ability to protect the public safety is 
challenged. The inability of poor and moderate-income persons to obtain 
legal assistance can result in dire consequences to those individuals 
and the communities in which they live.
  Our bill, the Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act, is designed to 
help remedy some of these problems. Enacting this measure will help 
make legal careers in public service as prosecutors and public 
defenders in the criminal justice system more financially viable and 
attractive to law school graduates who have incurred significant 
financial obligations in acquiring their education.
  Our proposal would establish, within the Department of Justice, a 
program of student loan repayment for borrowers who agree to remain 
employed for at least 3 years as public attorneys who are either State 
or local criminal prosecutors or State, local, or Federal public 
defenders in criminal cases. It would allow eligible attorneys to 
receive student loan debt repayments of up to $10,000 per year, with a 
maximum aggregate over time of $60,000.

  Repayment benefits for such public attorneys would be made available 
on a first-come, first-served basis and subject to the availability of 
appropriations. Priority would be given to borrowers who received 
repayment benefits for the preceding fiscal year and have completed 
less than 3 years of the first required service period. Borrowers could 
enter into an additional agreement, after the required 3-year period, 
for a successive period of service which may be less than 3 years. It 
would cover student loans made, insured, or guaranteed under the Higher 
Education Act of 1965, including consolidation loans. Furthermore, it 
would extend to Federal public defenders the existing Perkins loan 
forgiveness program available for Federal prosecutors.
  Our bill is modeled on the program for Federal executive branch 
employees which has been enjoying growing success. Federal law permits 
Federal executive branch agencies to repay their employees' student 
loans, up to $10,000 in a year, and up to a lifetime maximum of 
$60,000. In exchange, the employee must agree to remain with the agency 
for at least 3 years.
  During fiscal year 2004, 28 executive branch agencies provided 2,945 
Federal employees with more than $16.4 million in student loan 
repayments, as reported by the Office of Personnel Management in April 
2005. This marked a 42-percent increase in the number of beneficiaries 
and a 79-percent increase in benefits over fiscal year 2003.
  It is noteworthy that across the Federal Government in 2004, agencies 
used the loan repayment program most often to recruit and retain 
attorneys. In fiscal year 2004, 473 Federal lawyers received loan 
repayments, representing 16.1 percent of all employees who received the 
benefit.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission provided the benefit to 239 
lawyers, and the Justice Department distributed program benefits to 118 
of its attorneys. According to the Office of Personnel Management's 
report, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported that the program has 
been of tremendous benefit in recruiting and retaining attorneys in its 
Honors Law Graduate Program. NRC commented that law school debt is 
continuing to rise--to more than $100,000 in some cases--and a gap 
exists between Federal and private law firm salaries. As a result, some 
quality candidates may rule out a career as an attorney in the Federal 
Government. NRC believes the Federal student loan repayment program 
helps the Commission overcome these obstacles.
  I recently received a compelling letter from Jennifer Walsh, the 
assistant appellate defender for the State of Illinois. Her experiences 
portray in testamentary terms the real dilemmas encountered by perhaps 
thousands of attorneys desiring public service careers despite 
exorbitant student loan obligations.
  To simply paraphrase Ms. Walsh's sentiments would diminish their 
impact, so I would like to quote some excerpts from her letter: ``I 
love being a public servant. . . . Helping those who cannot afford to 
help themselves isn't charity and it isn't socially progressive. It is 
justice and it has made me a better person. . . . However, the one 
problem that I have consistently had since becoming a public defender 
is getting my student loans paid. I have a debt burden over $110,000. . 
. . My student loan payments will soon exceed $950 a month. This 
represents about one-third of my monthly take-home pay. I cannot help 
pay the mortgage on my house. I cannot save for my two children's 
futures. During a financial crisis, my husband knows that he cannot 
look to me to help the family finances. . . . I am now faced with a 
Hobson's choice--do I fulfill the needs of my indigent clients or my 
struggling family? I absolutely, positively don't want to leave. But my 
responsibilities to my family and my student loan creditors make 
staying in the public sector feel selfish and irresponsible. Imagine 
that--working for the public good seems selfish and irresponsible 
because I cannot do what I love and, at the same time, repay what I 
owe.''
  I appreciate Ms. Walsh's willingness to share her perspectives with 
me. By enacting and funding this legislation, we can take a meaningful 
step toward alleviating some of the financial burden for attorneys such 
as Ms. Walsh who choose careers as criminal prosecutors and public 
defenders.
  I know there are many other law graduates who, like Jennifer Walsh, 
want to apply their legal training and develop their skills in the 
public sector, but are deterred by the weight of student loan 
obligations. Passage of our legislation will help them make their 
careers dreams a reality. I urge its swift adoption.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2039

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Prosecutors and Defenders 
     Incentive Act of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT FOR PROSECUTORS AND DEFENDERS.

       Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
     of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
     end the following:

     ``PART HH--LOAN REPAYMENT FOR PROSECUTORS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS

     ``SEC. 2901. GRANT AUTHORIZATION.

       ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to encourage 
     qualified individuals to enter and continue employment as 
     prosecutors and public defenders.
       ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Prosecutor.--The term `prosecutor' means a full-time 
     employee of a State or local agency who--
       ``(A) is continually licensed to practice law; and
       ``(B) prosecutes criminal cases at the State or local 
     level.
       ``(2) Public defender.--The term `public defender' means an 
     attorney who--
       ``(A) is continually licensed to practice law; and

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       ``(B) is--
       ``(i) a full-time employee of a State or local agency or a 
     nonprofit organization operating under a contract with a 
     State or unit of local government, that provides legal 
     representation to indigent persons in criminal cases; or
       ``(ii) employed as a full-time Federal defender attorney in 
     a defender organization established pursuant to subsection 
     (g) of section 3006A of title 18, United States Code, that 
     provides legal representation to indigent persons in criminal 
     cases.
       ``(3) Student loan.--The term `student loan' means--
       ``(A) a loan made, insured, or guaranteed under part B of 
     title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965(20 U.S.C. 1071 
     et seq.);
       ``(B) a loan made under part D or E of title IV of the 
     Higher Education Act of 1965(20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq. and 
     1087aa et seq.); and
       ``(C) a loan made under section 428C or 455(g) of the 
     Higher Education Act of 1965(20 U.S.C. 1078-3 and 1087e(g)) 
     to the extent that such loan was used to repay a Federal 
     Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 
     Loan, or a loan made under section 428 or 428H of such Act.
       ``(c) Program Authorized.--The Attorney General shall 
     establish a program by which the Department of Justice shall 
     assume the obligation to repay a student loan, by direct 
     payments on behalf of a borrower to the holder of such loan, 
     in accordance with subsection (d), for any borrower who--
       ``(1) is employed as a prosecutor or public defender; and
       ``(2) is not in default on a loan for which the borrower 
     seeks forgiveness.
       ``(d) Terms of Agreement.--
       ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive repayment 
     benefits under subsection (c), a borrower shall enter into a 
     written agreement that specifies that--
       ``(A) the borrower will remain employed as a prosecutor or 
     public defender for a required period of service of not less 
     than 3 years, unless involuntarily separated from that 
     employment;
       ``(B) if the borrower is involuntarily separated from 
     employment on account of misconduct, or voluntarily separates 
     from employment, before the end of the period specified in 
     the agreement, the borrower will repay the Attorney General 
     the amount of any benefits received by such employee under 
     this section;
       ``(C) if the borrower is required to repay an amount to the 
     Attorney General under subparagraph (B) and fails to repay 
     such amount, a sum equal to that amount shall be recoverable 
     by the Federal Government from the employee (or such 
     employee's estate, if applicable) by such methods as are 
     provided by law for the recovery of amounts owed to the 
     Federal Government;
       ``(D) the Attorney General may waive, in whole or in part, 
     a right of recovery under this subsection if it is shown that 
     recovery would be against equity and good conscience or 
     against the public interest; and
       ``(E) the Attorney General shall make student loan payments 
     under this section for the period of the agreement, subject 
     to the availability of appropriations.
       ``(2) Repayments.--
       ``(A) In general.--Any amount repaid by, or recovered from, 
     an individual or the estate of an individual under this 
     subsection shall be credited to the appropriation account 
     from which the amount involved was originally paid.
       ``(B) Merger.--Any amount credited under subparagraph (A) 
     shall be merged with other sums in such account and shall be 
     available for the same purposes and period, and subject to 
     the same limitations, if any, as the sums with which the 
     amount was merged.
       ``(3) Limitations.--
       ``(A) Student loan payment amount.--Student loan repayments 
     made by the Attorney General under this section shall be made 
     subject to such terms, limitations, or conditions as may be 
     mutually agreed upon by the borrower and the Attorney General 
     in an agreement under paragraph (1), except that the amount 
     paid by the Attorney General under this section shall not 
     exceed--
       ``(i) $10,000 for any borrower in any calendar year; or
       ``(ii) an aggregate total of $60,000 in the case of any 
     borrower.
       ``(B) Beginning of payments.--Nothing in this section shall 
     authorize the Attorney General to pay any amount to reimburse 
     a borrower for any repayments made by such borrower prior to 
     the date on which the Attorney General entered into an 
     agreement with the borrower under this subsection.
       ``(e) Additional Agreements.--
       ``(1) In general.--On completion of the required period of 
     service under an agreement under subsection (d), the borrower 
     and the Attorney General may, subject to paragraph (2), enter 
     into an additional agreement in accordance with subsection 
     (d).
       ``(2) Term.--An agreement entered into under paragraph (1) 
     may require the borrower to remain employed as a prosecutor 
     or public defender for less than 3 years.
       ``(f) Award Basis; Priority.--
       ``(1) Award basis.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Attorney 
     General shall provide repayment benefits under this section 
     on a first-come, first-served basis, and subject to the 
     availability of appropriations.
       ``(2) Priority.--The Attorney General shall give priority 
     in providing repayment benefits under this section in any 
     fiscal year to a borrower who--
       ``(A) received repayment benefits under this section during 
     the preceding fiscal year; and
       ``(B) has completed less than 3 years of the first required 
     period of service specified for the borrower in an agreement 
     entered into under subsection (d).
       ``(g) Regulations.--The Attorney General is authorized to 
     issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the 
     provisions of this section.
       ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
     $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and such sums as may be 
     necessary for each succeeding fiscal year.''.
                                 ______