Last week, I joined with my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to pass H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction Act of 2012. This good, common-sense legislation prevents interest rates on undergraduate student loans from doubling this summer.
Because of a provision in a 2007 law, passed by a Democratic Congress, the interest rates on federal subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduate students were temporarily lowered from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, but set to return to the higher rate this year absent congressional action.
Well, I am happy to say that the House of Representatives has acted.
I was proud to join with both Republicans and Democrats in the House to make sure we took the appropriate action, and I now urge my colleagues in the Democrat-controlled Senate to do the same.
It's important to note that instead of pushing the $6 billion cost of this extension off on taxpayers, we paid for it by cutting another wasteful and unmanageable Obamacare program. The so-called Prevention and Public Health fund has been criticized as a "slush fund" for the Obama administration with no clear mission or Congressional oversight.
It had become so problematic that President Obama proposed cutting $4 billion from the exact same fund in his 2013 budget. Earlier this year, even the President signed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3630, that cut $5 billion from the PPH fund to pay for the extension of the payroll tax cuts.
This is the latest example of my ongoing commitment to get Obamacare off the books one program, one piece, at a time. As you all know, repealing and replacing this flawed measure is a top priority of mine.
By contrast, my opponent has yet to explain whether she supports or opposes Obamacare and her reasons for doing so. I continue to be amazed that someone running for Congress in 2012 can continue to hide from voters on this issue.
Unfortunately, however, ducking issues and launching misleading attacks at me has become the staple of Mrs. Adler's campaign for Congress. From trying to scare seniors to mischaracterizing the House Republican Budget with claims that have already been debunked by nonpartisan, independent fact-checking organizations, Mrs. Adler's campaign has been disappointing for its lack of substance and honesty.
To this point, her campaign is nothing more than repeating the talking points handed to her by Nancy Pelosi's political team in Washington, while avoiding a discussion about the serious economic and fiscal issues facing South Jersey and the nation.
I think we can all agree that Burlington and Ocean County voters deserve better.