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Bill Cassidy Blocks Jeff Merkley's Bill To Lower The Cost Of College, Then The Oregon Dem Responds
Forbes Breaking News
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In remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) spoke about the cost of college.
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00:00
I recognize the senator from Oregon.
00:02
Mr. President, when I was in grade school, my dad, the mechanic, would point to the schoolhouse doors and say,
00:08
son, if you go through those doors and you work hard, you can do almost anything because we're so fortunate to live here in the United States.
00:18
He was a big fan of public schools, giving an opportunity for every child to thrive.
00:24
And I took his advice to heart and went through those doors and studied hard and loved the vision of opportunity for every child in America.
00:36
But the fact is that many careers require more than K-12 education.
00:44
And the cost of college has exploded.
00:47
When I was graduating from high school, if you worked a summer job at minimum wage, which was about $3 an hour,
00:56
you could save enough money living at home to pay your tuition at any of the public universities in the state of Oregon.
01:04
Well, try paying your tuition today.
01:08
A year of tuition based on minimum wage working the summer.
01:12
We are in a situation where college is so much more important now than it was decades ago to so many parts of opportunity in our society.
01:25
And yet, it's so much more expensive.
01:31
It's a huge barrier for opportunity for every child.
01:36
Not so long ago, my children are 29, 27.
01:42
Not so long ago, they were in grade school in my neighborhood, my blue-collar neighborhood.
01:48
And folks would say to me,
01:51
Jeff, I'm not sure I should encourage my son or my daughter to go to college.
01:59
Because I'm afraid they're going to end up with a mountain of debt.
02:02
And that debt's going to be a millstone around their neck.
02:08
Instead of creating opportunity, obstructing opportunity.
02:14
And indeed, we've seen the challenge in which, because of the cost of college,
02:21
our sons and daughters are marrying later.
02:24
Because of debt from college, our sons and daughters are finding it much more difficult
02:29
to be able to buy a home, which have been the primary source of family wealth for middle-class Americans.
02:39
So, we should do something about this.
02:45
But unfortunately, my Republican colleagues want to make college more expensive.
02:50
I wish you could come to my blue-collar community,
02:56
get out of your gated communities,
02:58
where you live with people affluent enough to just pay their sons and daughters education,
03:04
and understand how expensive college is as a barrier to opportunity here in the United States of America.
03:12
Specifically, they want to make it harder for children to afford college
03:20
by eliminating income-driven repayment plans for borrowers.
03:27
Income-driven repayment plans help folks responsibly pay off their student loans
03:32
by basing a borrower's monthly payments on their income and their family size.
03:38
Sounds like common sense to me.
03:42
One of these income-driven repayment plans is the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan,
03:49
which more than 8 million Americans are enrolled in.
03:54
But in the reconciliation bill, the proposed bill that we will be voting on later this week,
04:02
it's slashed.
04:06
And Senate Health Committee Republicans are attempting to slash these loans
04:11
in their portion of the reconciliation bill as well.
04:14
As a result of these cuts, the Student Borrowed Protection Center calculates
04:19
that the typical borrower with a college degree will pay about $250 more per month.
04:27
Now, if you're coming from affluence,
04:30
you're like, $250 a month, less than $10 a day, not a problem.
04:34
But you know, it is a massive problem for children across America,
04:41
our young adults across America,
04:43
for our families who are not among those millionaires and billionaires
04:49
that so often inhabit this Senate chamber.
04:53
Why do Republicans want to get rid of programs that help individuals and working families,
04:58
help lift them up and responsibly pay back what they owe,
05:02
and instead want working families
05:05
to believe that perhaps college is not a possibility
05:12
because of the mountain of debt it will create on their children.
05:18
It's a families lose, billionaires win,
05:24
this attack on affordable ways to pay for college.
05:28
It's another example of the big, beautiful betrayal
05:34
in which this reconciliation bill
05:38
puts families down
05:41
and helps the rich get richer.
05:46
Families lose, billionaires win.
05:48
That's not a good theme for America.
05:52
It's not good policy.
05:53
Not even good politics.
05:56
How about we work together on families' thrive
05:59
and billionaires pay their fair share?
06:04
I've introduced the Savings Opportunity and Affordable Repayment Act,
06:08
or the SOAR Act,
06:10
with Senator Kaine,
06:11
with Leader Schumer,
06:12
with Senator Sanders,
06:14
to codify and expand the SAVE plan
06:17
and help borrowers in four important ways.
06:19
First, it will allow more low-income borrowers
06:23
to qualify for income-driven repayment plans,
06:26
increasing the number of students
06:28
who will be able to responsibly pay back their loans.
06:32
Second, it protects borrowers from runaway interest.
06:36
Third, it incentivizes former students
06:39
to keep paying their loans
06:40
rather than default
06:42
by shortening the timeline for loan forgiveness
06:44
from a maximum of 25 years to 15 years.
06:48
You know, CBO did a report on this back in 2020,
06:51
and what they found
06:53
is that those who participate
06:55
in an income-driven repayment plan
06:57
are half as likely to default
07:01
as people who don't.
07:03
So it becomes a win-win.
07:06
More money gets paid back to the Treasury,
07:08
not less.
07:10
Finally,
07:11
it will help many more borrowers
07:13
by making them eligible for these programs
07:15
by including parent-plus borrowers
07:17
and borrowers
07:18
with federal family education loans.
07:21
We know that the SAVE plan
07:24
and other income-driven repayment plans work.
07:27
They increase repayment rates.
07:29
They reduce default rates.
07:32
They lower costs for families.
07:34
And they create a vision for our young folks
07:36
that, yes, you can afford to go to college
07:39
here in the United States, America.
07:41
No, it won't create a mountain of debt
07:44
that will be a millstone around your neck.
07:46
Don't we want to send that message of opportunity
07:49
to all of our young folks
07:51
so they can aspire to their dreams,
07:54
so they can reach their highest potential,
07:56
so they can return their success
08:00
in helping their entire community
08:02
and our entire nation thrive?
08:04
Yes, of course we do.
08:07
So, colleagues, on both sides of the aisle,
08:09
let's join together in the vision
08:11
of families thrive and billionaires pay their fair share.
08:16
And let's do that by passing the SOAR Act.
08:20
So, Mr. President,
08:22
I propose that the Senate proceed
08:25
to consideration of the SOAR Act.
08:27
And to give you the precise technical language for that,
08:32
as if in legislative session,
08:35
and notwithstanding Rule 22,
08:37
I ask unanimous consent
08:38
that the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
08:40
Labor, and Pensions
08:41
be discharged from further consideration
08:44
as Senate Bill 1220,
08:46
and the Senate proceed
08:47
to its immediate consideration.
08:49
Further, the bill can be considered red
08:51
and a third time and passed,
08:55
and that the motion to reconsider
08:57
be considered made and laid upon the table.
09:02
Is there objection?
09:04
Does everyone like to object?
09:06
Senator from Louisiana.
09:09
Mr. President, I rise to object to S-1220,
09:12
a bill seeking to transfer the burden
09:15
of $230 billion in student debt
09:19
to the 87% of Americans
09:21
who chose not to go to college
09:22
or already responsibly paid off their loans.
09:26
To be clear,
09:27
this legislation does not differentiate
09:29
between those trapped with overwhelming debt
09:31
and those who could easily pay back their loans.
09:34
If this bill is enacted,
09:36
a majority of those who borrowed money
09:38
to get a bachelor's degree
09:39
would not have to pay it back,
09:41
would not have to pay back even the principal
09:43
in their loans.
09:44
91% of new student debt
09:46
would be eligible for reduced payments,
09:48
and it would be subsidized
09:49
by everybody watching on C-SPAN right now.
09:55
There is no free lunch.
09:57
These policies are as unfair
09:59
as they are irresponsible.
10:02
Where is the relief
10:03
for the Louisiana truck driver
10:05
who took out a loan
10:07
to buy a truck?
10:08
What about the hardworking mom
10:11
who paid off her student loans
10:12
but now struggles to afford her mortgage?
10:15
Would this legislation give those Americans relief?
10:17
No.
10:19
It gives them a greater burden.
10:21
The truck driver, that mom,
10:23
they're on the hook
10:23
for those who decided to go to college
10:25
to get a degree to make more money.
10:28
They would be on the hook for that
10:30
as well as their own cost of living.
10:32
Now, I'm sure my Democratic colleagues
10:34
will argue that some of those students
10:35
are trapped with overwhelming debt,
10:37
and this legislation will help them get out of it.
10:40
But this bill does nothing
10:42
to address the broken higher education system
10:45
that created the overwhelming debt
10:47
in the first place.
10:48
It doesn't address the rising cost
10:50
at colleges and universities.
10:52
And let's point out
10:53
that in the last 30 years,
10:55
tuition and fees
10:57
at private nonprofit colleges
10:59
have risen by 75%.
11:01
At public four-year institutions,
11:04
increased by 102%.
11:06
Meanwhile, according to a nonpartisan analysis,
11:10
23% of bachelor's degree programs,
11:12
43% of master's degree programs
11:14
have a negative return on investment.
11:17
What does that mean?
11:18
It means you spend a lot of money
11:20
to get your degree,
11:21
but you don't actually increase
11:23
your ability to earn more money
11:25
because of that degree,
11:26
and along the way,
11:28
you get into student loan debt.
11:30
We need real solutions
11:31
to fix this broken system,
11:32
and Republicans provide these solutions.
11:36
As chair of the Senate Health,
11:37
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
11:39
I'm leading my committee's portion
11:41
of the One Big, Beautiful Bill,
11:43
legislation that will make transformative changes
11:46
to the higher education system.
11:48
First, it reforms student loan repayment plans
11:51
that cost American taxpayers
11:53
hundreds of billions of dollars.
11:56
This includes fixing our income-driven repayment program
11:59
that is targeted to help struggling Americans.
12:03
Second, it increases affordability of higher education
12:06
by eliminating inflationary loan programs
12:09
that evidence shows drives higher tuition prices
12:13
and costs taxpayers billions of dollars.
12:16
Third, it restores accountability
12:18
so that universities are not receiving federal loan dollars
12:22
for programs that leave students worse off
12:25
than if they had never entered that program.
12:29
And lastly, this legislation increases access
12:32
to career or technical education
12:33
through establishing workforce Pell.
12:36
A young person from Louisiana
12:37
who wants to be a master welder
12:39
doesn't need to attend a four-year university,
12:42
but they can now use their Pell grant
12:44
to attend a technical school,
12:46
giving them the skills for a successful career.
12:49
That is a wise investment
12:51
of federal student loan dollars.
12:53
Unlike S-1220, the legislation before us today,
12:57
Senate Republicans are putting forth real solutions
12:59
to address the root causes of student loan crisis.
13:03
I look forward to working with my colleagues
13:05
to get the one big, beautiful bill
13:06
across the finish line
13:07
so we can fix the broken higher education system
13:11
and ensure that every American can succeed.
13:14
Mr. President, Democrats' legislation is unfair
13:17
to the hundreds of millions of taxpaying Americans
13:19
who will be forced to bear the burden
13:21
of paying off someone else's student debt.
13:24
It would make our higher education problems worse,
13:27
not better, and for those reasons, I object.
13:31
The objection is heard.
13:33
Mr. President.
13:34
The senator from Oregon.
13:36
I enjoy working with my colleague from Louisiana,
13:39
and he's made several points worth noting.
13:43
He's noted that this strategy of enabling people
13:47
to pay back their loan according to their income
13:50
doesn't solve the large issue
13:52
of why our colleges cost so much.
13:55
And he's noted that it doesn't do anything
13:58
about predatory college programs
14:01
that charge a lot and deliver little.
14:03
Now, I was here when Tom Harkin led the effort
14:08
to shut down the for-profit programs
14:11
that often weren't even accredited
14:14
but were signing up veterans like crazy
14:17
and ripping them off, leaving them with massive debt.
14:20
And we couldn't get any help from across the aisle
14:23
to take that on.
14:24
So he's right, it won't solve everything.
14:28
But the idea that you pay according to your income,
14:32
and as your income goes up, you pay back more.
14:36
And the default rate is cut in half.
14:38
So the federal government actually takes in more money
14:41
than it would otherwise.
14:43
And students believe that they do have an opportunity
14:48
despite the high cost of college
14:50
because that's just not going to be fixed overnight.
14:52
You know, Germany, tuition is zero.
14:56
Germany has said every child
14:58
should have the opportunity to thrive.
15:00
But here in America, we make it
15:02
so the rich have that opportunity.
15:04
And ordinary families in my blue-collar community
15:07
are going, we don't think our children
15:10
can afford to go to college.
15:13
That hurts all of us.
15:14
It hurts every child whose dreams are crushed
15:17
because of these high costs of college.
15:20
I'm happy to work with my colleague from Louisiana
15:23
on ideas on how we lower the cost of college.
15:26
But we've got a lot of folks going to college right now.
15:29
Let's help these students know
15:31
that they can go through those doors as a freshman.
15:35
And if they thrive,
15:36
they're going to pay back their loans fast.
15:38
And if they don't thrive so much in a higher-income job
15:41
or it's a public service job,
15:42
they'll pay it back more slowly,
15:44
but they'll never have to default.
15:45
I think it's a vision worth continuing to work on
15:49
because our higher education system
15:52
is not working as well
15:56
as a system in many other countries
15:58
that are saying every child will have an opportunity.
16:00
I believe, like my father did, like my mother did,
16:04
of America as a land of opportunity for every child,
16:07
not just the children of the rich.
16:09
Thank you, Mr. President.
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