[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16153]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STUDENT LOAN DEBT

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend President Obama for 
announcing a plan this morning to lower student loan payments. The New 
York Times recently reported that student loan debt outpaced credit 
card debt for the first time last year and that the growth in student 
loan debt threatens to undermine the future life prospects of the 
current generation of students.
  It was this realization that led me, as a State senator, to pass the 
Tennessee Education Lottery program that gives scholarships to our 
Tennessee students.
  Too many young people have an unbelievable amount of debt that 
burdens them for the rest of their lives. The students that participate 
in Occupy Wall Street are very aware of this threat.
  Earlier this year, I reintroduced H.R. 2028, the Private Student Loan 
Bankruptcy Fairness Act, which will restore fair treatment to Americans 
in severe financial distress whose debts include private student loans.
  Before 2005 private student loans issued by for-profit lenders were 
appropriately treated in bankruptcy like credit card debt and other 
similar types of unsecured consumer liabilities. The bill I've 
introduced with Senator Durbin in the Senate would ensure that 
privately issued students loans will once again be treated like other 
debt and be dischargeable in bankruptcy.
  We need to give our students a fair chance.

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