AskJared #2; Student Loans

Congressman Jared Huffman responds directly to a constituent's letter about student loan interest rates. To ask Jared a question, click HERE: huffman.house.gov/contact/email-me Transcript: Hi, Congressman Jared Huffman here. Today we're responding to a letter from Nancy Boyce in San Rafael. Nancy wrote to me about her concern of student loan indebtedness, over the rise in interest rates, and generally the high cost of higher education at a time when our country needs higher education more than ever to be competitive. We are seeing a growing gap between accessibility to higher education for those who can afford it and a lot of middle class and lower income people who are being priced out of higher education. This is a very relevant subject right now, because we are now in the month of July and a few days ago interests on Stafford Student Loans—which have been held because of congressional action at 3.4%, one of the great low interest rates which makes college more accessible—they actually doubled on July 1 because Congress had failed to take action. There is still time for Congress to step in and retroactively fix this problem, and I'm hoping my colleagues in both houses will do that in the days ahead. But this is a big, big problem that needs to be addressed, and my Republican colleagues have very different ideas on how to fix it. They passed a bill out of the House of Representatives a little over a month ago that actually would make it worse than the doubling of student interest loan rates that we're seeing now. According to the Congressional Budget Office, their solution would actually increase student indebtedness dramatically. That's heading in the wrong direction from where we need to go. I want you to know, Nancy and others who are concerned about this, I am supporting H.R. 1595. That is a Democratic piece of legislation that would hold current interests rates at 3.4% for the next two years while we work out a longer solution as part of education reauthorization. I think that's the right thing to do at a time when we desperately need to keep college affordable, where we need to invest in education and keep competing and trying to win the future in this global economy. We can't let higher education be priced out of reach for millions and millions of Americans. Thanks for your letter, and please do support H.R. 1595, which I think is the right solution and please also express your opposition to the House Republican bill that would actually make matters worse than a doubling of student loan interests rates if it were to go into effect. This is now going over to the United States Senate, where they have an opportunity to pass the right kind of bill and then hopefully take this into a conference committee. We can get it worked out, and it can happen quickly, and that's what needs to happen in the days ahead. Thanks.