McCarthy Applauds House Passage of the Smarter Solutions for Students Act

Statement

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) released the following statement on House passage of the Smarter Solutions for Students Act (H.R. 1911):

"On July 1st of this year, the interest rate on new federally subsidized undergraduate Stafford Loans is set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Currently, student loan interest rates are decided by Congress, not the free market. As a result, the rate at which students will repay their student loans is subject to the year-to-year partisan politics of Washington, rather than a system that is grounded in objectivity and free from partisanship. The Smarter Solutions for Students Act prevents interest rates from increasing while moving to a permanent market-based interest rate for all federal student loans with a fair and rational cap to protect students from unaffordable rates.

"I thank Chairman Kline, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and all of the Members of the Education and the Workforce Committee for their work on this crucial legislation that gets politicians out of the business of setting loan interest rates, provides a long-term fix to the interest rate cliffs initiated in 2007, provides students certainty, allows the free market to work, and protects taxpayers."

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