[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SMARTER SOLUTIONS FOR STUDENTS ACT

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the choice before the Senate yesterday was 
very difficult. If we had failed to pass the student loan bill, 
students and their families would be stuck with interest rates for 
student loans that are double what they were just last year. American 
students and parents who worry every single day about whether they can 
afford college cannot be burdened with such an enormous rate hike.
  The cost of tuition at public 4-year colleges is up more than 15 
percent since 2009. Student loan debt has reached historic proportions. 
Yet we allowed the rate on new federally subsidized student loans to 
double, to 6.8 percent, as of July 1. If we had allowed this rate 
increase to continue, we would have subtracted thousands of dollars 
from the wallets of American students and their families or, worse, be 
responsible for pushing college beyond the financial means of some 
families who already wonder whether they can afford to give their kids 
the education they need and deserve.
  The bipartisan legislation we passed yesterday will temporarily 
resolve this crisis for American families, but it is far from perfect. 
It switches these interest rates for these critical student loans from 
fixed rates to floating rates, with caps that are far too high. This 
opens the door to rising interest rates 4 years from now that students 
and their families simply cannot afford.
  The student debt problem which for many families is a student debt 
crisis requires a carefully considered long term solution. I am hopeful 
that such a solution will eventually emerge, but this legislation is 
not it.
  That is why I supported an amendment offered by my colleagues, 
Senators Reed and Warren, and another amendment offered by Senator 
Sanders, which would have mitigated some of the long-term damage of 
this legislation. Even though we did not adopt those amendments, I 
supported this bill for the simple reason that it removes the burdens 
facing America's students and their families in the next few years.
  The chairman of the HELP Committee, my friend Tom Harkin has pledged 
to try to fix the likely spiking interest rates facing students when 
the higher education reauthorization bill comes up next year. I will 
strongly support that effort.
  Yesterday we in the Senate had a choice, but America's college 
students do not they have no choice but to pay the ever-rising cost of 
a college education, not if they want the skills and knowledge that 
hold the promise of a better life. They have no choice but to live with 
the decisions we make here in this Chamber.

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