[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 17, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H5371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COMMON GROUND ON STUDENT LOAN REFORM

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, President Obama recently announced some 
changes to student loan repayment programs. Keeping with the pattern of 
his administration, he has chosen to impose those changes via the 
regulatory process.
  For a while now, President Obama has been fond of saying he has a 
``pen and a phone'' that he will use to codify his version of hope and 
change. Perhaps the pen is sufficient, but the regulatory process will 
take 18 months. The House is reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.
  Working together, student loan reforms could be considered passed and 
implemented much sooner if only President Obama would pick up the 
phone, talk with Members of Congress, and find common ground; but that 
takes effort, and the President does not seem inclined to call.
  Mr. Speaker, it seems this President has become so addicted to the 
pen that he no longer knows how to pick up the telephone.

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