[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 KEEPING STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATE LOW

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, when the President alerted the country that 
student loan interest rates would double July 1, our Republican friends 
called it a fake controversy, that they always intended to take care of 
it. Why, then, was it nowhere to be found in the Republican Ryan 
budget? Why do they want to pay for it with the health care funds of 
the parents and grandparents of the Class of 2012?
  This year's class will graduate with an unemployment rate for their 
age group that is twice the national average. Keeping their loan rates 
low should be this session's no-brainer. If student loan rates go to 
6.8 percent, they will be paying above the mortgage interest rates of 
many Americans. Treasury is borrowing at virtually zero.
  Congress has not given the Class of 2012 a jobs bill. One graduation 
gift we can give them is the current 3.4 percent interest rate.

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