Interest Rate Reduction Act

Floor Speech

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4628: the Interest Rate Reduction Act.

Congress has a unique opportunity to prevent the scheduled doubling of student loan interest rates before July. Our failure to act will have debilitating effects on millions of Americans. Rather than serve as an obstacle to students wishing to further their education, Congress should work to make college accessible to all. Yet Congress is standing in the way by considering legislation that would pay for the extension of the interest rate reduction by repealing the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which funds essential health services for millions of Americans, including women and children. There is another sensible and responsible way to pay for keeping student loan rates low: end tax subsidies for big oil companies.

Young, educated Americans begin their adult lives financially strapped. Not only do these recent graduates have debt, they also have some of the greatest difficulty finding gainful employment. Recent college graduates have a higher unemployment rate than any other demographic group in the country. Sixty-six percent of students graduating from college today are leaving with student loan debt. On average, those students graduate with $25,000 in debt. The total amount of student loan debt in this country is more than $1 trillion dollars.
If we do not pass a measure that extends the reduced interest rate on student loans, more than 7 million students' rates will double to 6.8 percent. Students who borrow the maximum in subsidized student loans will pay up to an additional $1,000 in interest costs. It is our responsibility to give these students a chance to earn a quality education without the strings of unmanageable debt.

There is little profit to be had from trying to prevent diseases from occurring in the first place, which means pharmaceutical companies and others who profit from efforts to treat and cure diseases will not pay for such efforts. If we want to prevent cancer, the spread of HIV, outbreaks of West Nile Virus, and protect mothers and babies from tobacco; if we want to promote better nutrition, birth defect reduction, preparedness for bioterrorism, and breast and cervical cancer screenings; if we want to protect our children from lead in our homes and yards, the childhood obesity epidemic, and otherwise invisible clusters of chronic diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, we have to fund these programs ourselves. The Prevention and Public Health Fund must be protected as a measure of self-protection.

This bill repeals the Prevention and Public Health Fund. I cannot support this bill.

Source