[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H2458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1210
                          INVESTING IN AMERICA

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the golden opportunity to 
travel with our President to the capital region of upstate New York to 
visit our nanotechnology center. This campus is poised for tremendous 
growth as we witness an investment in public and private partnership.
  The President utilized that visit to showcase a very glowing example 
of the appropriateness of investing in advanced manufacturing. It's a 
great path toward job creation, job retention. The President 
underscored the value of investing in precision technology, in R&D, in 
efficiency, and in workforce development--workforce development, 
development that comes in many dimensions, training and retraining and 
apprenticeship programs, and, yes, the path to success via higher 
education.
  Speaking to that, our higher education dreams need to be fostered 
with affordability and availability. The 3.4 percent cap on interest 
rates for student loans cannot grow to 6.8 percent. We will dumb down 
the dreams of our young adults who are looking to go onward with their 
careers through higher education. We need to pass legislation so as to 
hold that cap at 3.4 percent, and we cannot allow it to grow come July 
1 because of inaction by this Congress. I ask us to pass that measure 
in this House.

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