[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9204]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        STUDENT LOAN DEBT BURDEN

  (Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission 
to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today, Americans 
are more burdened by student loan debt than ever. The statistics are 
truly stunning. They owe over $1.4 trillion in student loan debt spread 
out among 44 million borrowers. That is about $600 billion more, or 
double the total United States credit card debt.
  And the problem is only getting worse. The average class of 2016 
graduate has more than $37,172 in student loan debt, which is up 6 
percent from the previous year. Yet President Trump just proposed 
gutting the best lifelines and safeguards that these borrowers have.
  The Trump budget cuts the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, 
which makes public interest and nonprofit work attainable for students, 
despite their debt loads; it consolidates income-based repayment 
programs that are critical to managing repayment; and it completely 
scraps subsidized interest on some student loans.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot profess to stand for the middle class, for 
American workers, and for American values while pulling the rug out 
from under 44 million borrowers bearing the weight of what is the 
greatest systemic threat to our economic stability.

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