Student Loans

Statement

Today the House considered H.R. 4628: Interest Rate Reduction Act. The current student loan interest rate stands at 3.4%. It is scheduled to double on July 1st and H.R. 4628 delays that action for one year, at a cost of $6 billion. The increase is paid for by repealing the Prevention and Public Health Fund which is used for initiatives such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, childhood immunizations and screenings for birth defects. This effort is just another attempt to weaken the important reforms in health care achieved by the Affordable Care Act. Bill drafters could have just taken $6 billion from the fund, but in the interest of "deficit reduction", they chose to eliminate it altogether. You may recall that last week the House passed a 20% tax cut on all businesses with less than 500 employees, which represents 99.6% of all businesses in the country. That tax cut costs $46 billion for one year -- and it wasn't offset one penny. The President has already stated that he will veto H.R. 4628. Congress should delay this interest rate increase and there are other proposals to do just that -- they would pass easily and leave health care reform alone. House leaders should take up one of those measures instead of a bill that they know is a nonstarter. I voted NO.

Source