Larson Condemns Senate GOP Obstruction of Student Loan Bill

Statement

Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) released the following statement today condemning Senate Republicans for refusing to even debate a bill that would have prevented interest rates on student loans from doubling in July from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent:

"Today, the Republican leaders proved once again that they would rather play politics than get to work fixing the problems facing American families.

"Keeping students loans from doubling on July 1st should be a no-brainer. Yet instead of helping students and middle class families succeed, House Republicans have voted repeatedly for a budget that doubles student loan interest rates and slashes investments in job training to pay for more tax giveaways to millionaires. And now Senate Republicans, on a party line vote, are preventing the Senate from even debating the best way to protect students and their families.

"What I think our Republican colleagues forget is that this isn't just a Washington policy debate. This is about real people, really hurting. People like Lauren Mishkin, a Norwich mother who is putting two sons through college right now. She's done everything a parent is supposed to do for their kids. She scrimped and she saved. And when that wasn't enough, she borrowed against her mortgage and her 401(k). And now even that isn't enough.

"As she said to me in tears last week, "When only the rich can follow their dreams, we have a problem.' It's people like Lauren, who work hard and play by the rules, who are being squeezed by legislators frozen in the ice of their own indifference. And she's right. We have a real problem."

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