[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10015-10017]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STUDENT LOAN DEBT

  Ms. WARREN. Madam President, 40 million people in this country--40 
million--are dealing with more than $1 trillion in student loan debt. 
It is crushing our young people and dragging down our economy. It is a 
national economic emergency.
  Yesterday Senators had a chance to do the right thing. We had a 
chance to allow young people with high-interest loans to refinance 
those loans down to a lower rate, a chance to move forward on the Bank 
on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, and a chance to stand for 
our young people who are just starting their economic lives.
  A majority of Senators voted to seize that chance. Every Democratic 
Senator, every Independent Senator, and three Republican Senators voted 
to seize that chance. But despite the majority support, despite this 
bipartisan support, the bill failed. Why? Because Republicans pulled 
out their favorite tool--the filibuster. They blocked the Senate from 
even debating this bill.
  Over the past few days we have heard a lot of excuses, but yesterday 
the Republicans said we should not even consider this legislation until 
we voted on

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the Sanders-McCain legislation to address the situation at the VA. The 
VA legislation is a very good bill. It is a very important bill, and 
the Senate voted on it yesterday afternoon. So now that the Senate has 
passed it, where are the Republicans? The veterans vote is over, so 
where are the Republicans who are now ready to debate the student loan 
refinancing?
  Veterans have spoken out on the student loan bill as well. The 
spokesperson for Student Veterans of America praised the student loan 
refinancing bill. He said this bill could provide real relief for his 
members--veterans who have served our country and who have worked hard 
to get an education. If the Republicans will let us vote, we can give 
our veterans that relief.
  The Senate can come back to the student loan bill at any point. We 
can come back today, we can come back tonight, and we can come back 
tomorrow. We just need the Republicans to let us get back on the 
important legislation. Democrats are happy to offer a time agreement 
which would allow for a short debate, would allow for amendments, and 
would get us to a vote.
  Let's be honest. Most of the Senate Republicans made the wrong choice 
yesterday when they voted to protect billionaires who have already made 
it instead of the young people who are fighting for a fair shot at a 
better future. I am still hopeful because despite the rhetoric, despite 
the excuses, despite the hemming and hawing, a large bipartisan 
majority of Senators stood for students yesterday. I am hopeful because 
I know that the minute the Republicans drop their filibuster, this bill 
will pass the Senate, and I am hopeful because we are just two votes 
short of breaking that filibuster. Now that we have had a vote on the 
veterans legislation, let's go back to the student loan bill.
  This is not over. We are not done fighting for students. No one is 
giving up. We just need two more votes to go forward. We are going to 
push harder than ever for the student loan bill, and we are going to 
get it passed.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant majority leader.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask, through the Chair, if the Senator from 
Massachusetts will yield for a question.
  Ms. WARREN. Certainly.
  Mr. DURBIN. First, through the Chair, I thank the Senator from 
Massachusetts for her leadership and her effort to refinance student 
loans.
  Is it true that what was at stake yesterday was an opportunity for 25 
million student loan borrowers--out of roughly 40 million nationwide--
to refinance their student loans at a lower interest rate?
  Ms. WARREN. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Illinois for 
his leadership on this issue, and the answer is yes. This would have 
permitted 25 million Americans to refinance their student loans down to 
lower interest rates, thereby putting hundreds, even thousands of 
dollars back in their pockets.
  Mr. DURBIN. Through the Chair, I also ask the Senator from 
Massachusetts if it is true that the way we paid for this--this loss of 
interest by the Federal Government--was to impose the Buffett rule, 
which meant that those who are multimillionaires, for example, would 
have a higher income tax rate--at least as high as the secretaries who 
work for them--and that would have meant a tax increase on roughly 
22,000 millionaires.
  Ms. WARREN. That is exactly right.
  Mr. DURBIN. Through the Chair again, the choice yesterday was between 
helping 25 million student borrowers get a lower interest rate, saving 
on average $2,000 a year, and asking 22,000 multimillionaires to pay 
slightly more in income tax, and sadly only three Republicans would 
join the Democrats in saying: Let's help the student borrowers. Is that 
what happened?
  Ms. WARREN. That is right.
  Mr. DURBIN. I say through the Chair to the Senator from Massachusetts 
that I have been traveling the State of Illinois, the city of Chicago, 
and every campus I stop on there are students who come forward and tell 
me their stories of the debt they have incurred because of their 
degrees and the impact it has had on their lives. There are student 
teachers who sadly cannot take jobs teaching because they owe too much 
money from college.
  Is the Senator from Massachusetts hearing that in her State and 
around the country?
  Ms. WARREN. Yes, I am hearing that in my State and around the 
country.
  What really strikes me about this bill--there are a lot of things 
that happen that we can't fix here in Congress, but this is something 
we can fix. Right now the Federal Government is charging people who try 
to get an education 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent, 12 percent, and 
even higher on student loans. We have a very straightforward bill that 
would bring the interest rate down, put money back in people's pockets, 
and give people who are just trying to get a fair shot a real 
opportunity to build an economic future.
  Mr. DURBIN. I will ask the last question through the Chair. So 
yesterday--so everybody can understand what happened--there was a 
threatened Republican filibuster to stop us from even debating this 
bill, and in order to stop the filibuster and begin debating the bill 
so 25 million students could get a lower interest rate on the student 
loans, we needed 60 votes on the floor. We had all the Democrats and 
only three Republicans--Senator Collins of Maine, Senator Corker of 
Tennessee, and Senator Murkowski of Alaska--prepared to vote. No other 
Republican Senator would join us in starting the debate on lowering the 
interest rate on student loans.
  We need two more Republican Senators to join those three Republicans 
so we can start bringing relief to student borrowers all across the 
United States.
  Is that where we stand today?
  Ms. WARREN. That is exactly where we stand today. We are just two 
votes shy. What we know now is how the Republicans have voted. So now 
it is up to all of us to get two more Republicans to agree to just let 
us bring this bill to the floor. Just let us have the debate. Just let 
us have the vote.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for her leadership 
on this important issue.
  Madam President, what is the order of business on the floor?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 3 minutes remaining prior to the 
Senate proceeding to executive session.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I will follow up on the dialogue I just 
had with Senator Warren.
  These are issues that really hit home for families. We have had four 
issues on the floor of the Senate in the last several months which 
really define the difference between the political parties.
  The Democrats have argued and urged that we extend unemployment 
benefits for the long-term unemployed in America so they can find work, 
save their homes, pay their utility bills, and have a cell phone to go 
look for work. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough support on the 
other side of the aisle when it came to extending unemployment 
benefits.
  The next issue was to raise the minimum wage--which we have not done 
for a long time--so that those who are struggling--primarily women--
will have a basic minimum wage so they can get by from paycheck to 
paycheck. Many of us believe that if you are willing to get up and go 
to work every morning, you should not live in poverty in America.
  The third issue was gender equality. If my daughter and my son work 
the same job, they should get the same paycheck. There should not be 
discrimination against women. Republicans opposed us on that.
  Now comes the fourth issue: renegotiating college student loans so 
that some 40 million student loan borrowers across America have a 
chance to pay less interest on their student loans, their monthly 
payments would go down, and they would be able to pay off their loans 
sooner so they could get on with their lives. We could only get 3 
Republicans out of 45 to join us in an effort to start the debate on 
the bill yesterday, so we fell short. We needed

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two Republican Senators to join Senator Warren, myself, and others--
Senator Franken of Minnesota and Senator Reed of Rhode Island--to join 
us in initiating this conversation.
  I say to my Republican colleagues, when you go home this weekend, try 
to find some college students and their families and engage them in 
this conversation. You will find what we found out on the Democratic 
side. If you listen to working families who are struggling to put their 
kids through school, they will tell you they need help. We offered help 
yesterday, but we fell short by two Republican votes.
  I hope the Republican filibuster will be overturned next week when we 
return.
  I yield the floor.

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