[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                      STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Arizona (Ms. Sinema) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SINEMA. Mr. Speaker, Brandie Reiner, Jack Welty, Andy Albright, 
Diego Soto, Anthony Carly, Ellen Hamilton, Ariel Carlos, Joe Slaven, 
Brandy Pantilione, Gary Brewer, Christopher Valles--these are the 
students and college graduates from Arizona State University, my alma 
mater, who shared their stories with me. Some of these young adults are 
my students at Arizona State University where I teach. Some are recent 
graduates. Some are thinking of starting a family, while others are 
working hard to care for the families they already have.
  What do these graduates want? They just want a fair shot. They want 
to know that their hard work in college mattered, that it led to the 
promise that their parents made to them when they were little, the 
promise we all believe in: if you work hard and play by the rules, you 
will succeed. Essentially, they want what each of us wanted for 
ourselves, what we want for our own kids, what we're working for in our 
districts. They want a shot at the American Dream.
  Instead, as Brandie Reiner begins her life and career as a social 
worker--having just graduated from ASU last month--she will face the 
biggest financial hurdle of her life. She doesn't face massive medical 
bills or an expensive car loan. It's not rent or a mortgage payment. 
It's a bill for over $100,000 in student loans. Eighteen days--18 
days--that's all the time we have to stop student loan interest rates 
from doubling. Eighteen days makes a lot of difference to the young 
people who will have to pay thousands of additional dollars to the 
Federal Government at a time in their lives when those dollars matter 
the most.
  Christopher Valles has $20,000 in debt, and he's just a freshman; 
Gary Brewer, $57,000 in debt; Kent Fogg, $70,000; Sara Cureton, 
$74,000.
  The Federal Reserve has noted that the U.S.'s $1 trillion in student 
debt is further constricting our economy. Young people are foregoing 
long-term job opportunities and homeownership in order to meet the 
urgent demands of their large student loan payments. And today, as they 
work hard to find jobs in this recession that they didn't cause, 
Congress debates whether to force students to pay more in order to pay 
down Congress' debt.
  Brandie, Christopher, Gary, Kent, Sara--these graduates should not 
have to foot the bill for Congress' failure. In 18 days, I want to go 
back to Arizona and tell these students that I took their stories to 
Congress and that their stories mattered, that their experiences made a 
difference.
  When these young adults tell me that they just want a shot at the 
American Dream, that they're working hard, playing by the rules, and 
doing everything they can to live that dream, then they've done their 
part. Now it's time for us to do ours.
  I challenge us, all of us: Republicans, Democrats, Senators, 
Representatives. I challenge us to stand together and do the right 
thing. Stop the finger-pointing and the cynical posturing. Instead, we 
must act together to keep student loan interest rates affordable. The 
clock is ticking. There's no time to waste.

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