[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 113 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  NUCLEAR IRAN PREVENTION ACT OF 2013

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                               speech of

                         HON. YVETTE D. CLARKE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 31, 2013

  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to the Motion to 
Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1911--the Bipartisan Student 
Loan Certainty Act of 2013.
  This bill will peg student loan interest rates to the 10-year 
Treasury note allowing the rate to fluctuate with financial markets.
  Specifically, the bill would peg the permanent student loan interest 
rate to the 10-year Treasury note plus 2.05% for undergraduate 
subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans; the 10-year Treasury note 
plus 3.6 % for subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans; and the 10-
year Treasury note plus 4.6% for Parent Plus and Graduate Plus loans.
  One positive thing that this bill does do is that it caps student 
loan interest rates at 8.25% for undergraduates, 9.5% for graduate 
students, and 10.5% for Parents Plus and Graduate Plus loans.
  I am disappointed with this bill because it fails to permanently keep 
student loan interest rates at their current fixed rate, and in doing 
so increases the cost to borrowers over the next 10 years by an 
estimated $715 million dollars.
  Despite the public outcry over student loan debt, now totaling over 
$1 trillion dollars, Congress has chosen to make an estimated $715 
million dollar profit off of student loans.
  This is shameful! We should not be making a profit off the backs of 
students. Students are our future. An educated populous is what America 
needs to remain competitive in the 21st century. Balancing the budget 
on the backs of students is wrong, unfair and shameful!

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