President Finally Signs Student Loan Legislation
President Finally Signs Student Loan Legislation
Bipartisan Pro-Growth Agenda Should be a Priority
(Washington, D.C.) – Today President Obama is expected to sign H.R. 1911, the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013. The bill offers relief to student loan borrowers, retroactively cancelling the doubling of the interest rate on some loans which took place on July 1st and links them to the market. It ties rates to the 10-year Treasury note, plus 2.05 percentage points for both subsidized and unsubsidized portions of the undergraduate loans, 3.6 points for graduate loans and 4.6 points for PLUS loans. Rates are locked-in for the life of the loan and capped at 8.25 percent, 9.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.
H.R. 1911 initially passed the House of Representatives on May 23rd. However, the Senate did not vote on the measure until July 24th. During the intervening two months, Senate leadership blocked the bipartisan proposal, opting instead to push partisan bills which failed to win approval – even after student loan rates doubled on July 1.
Jorge Lima, Policy Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:
"College students can breathe a little easier now that the President is finally signing student loan legislation that repeals the doubling of rates that took place on July 1 and removes student loan rates from the grips of Washington politics. This market-based solution ensures stability going forward for both students and taxpayers. It's a shame it took more than 2 months to arrive at a compromise built on the framework the House passed back in May. With this issue resolved, Democrats and Republicans need to come together on an agenda to address growing student loan debt and ensure economic opportunity for the millions of college graduates who are unemployed or underemployed."
For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.