[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 52 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H1795-H1796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRESS SHOULD NOT LET STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATES GO UP

  (Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a 
matter of great urgency for America's students and their families.
  In just 3 months, if Congress does not act, millions of Americans 
will be thrown deeper into debt. That's because on July 1 the interest 
rates on need-based student loans will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 
percent. This interest-rate hike will hit 7 million Americans who are 
already in financial need.

[[Page H1796]]

  With rates at historic lows, for the Congress to let these interest 
rates double is highway robbery. Congress should not require students 
and families who can least afford it to pay twice as much in interest 
on the same loans they got a year before at lower rates. Congress 
should help make college more affordable, not more expensive. Congress 
should help families to get out from under the crushing debt, not pile 
on more.
  Tens of thousands of students have asked Congress to act, but their 
pleas to help have been met with silence from the Republicans in 
Congress. Silence. Silence is not what they need. Action is what they 
need. Only Congress can set the rates for these student loans. The 
clock is ticking. Applications are being made to college, and the time 
to act is now. Congress should not let the interest student rate loans 
go up. Congress should not let the interest rates double on these 
families and these students.

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