Rep. Barbara Lee on ‘Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
Washington, D.C.— Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee released the following statement regarding the recent introduction of the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, H.R. 1979, which would allow students to borrow funds at the same low rate that banks borrow from the Federal Reserve for a year, providing a window for Congress to find a fair, long term solution on student loan interest rates.
“I’m proud to be an original co-sponsor of this important legislation. College has to be affordable for our nation to thrive, but our college students are drowning in debt. Our students deserve the same interest rates that our biggest banks get. It’s not only the right thing to do for our students, it’s the right thing to do for our economy.
“Access to a college education is an essential stepping stone in the pathway out of poverty, but we need to ensure that students not only have access to college, but can afford it, too. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, and a member of the subcommittee which handles education funding, I’ve been fighting to protect programs like Pell Grants, which help students across the country, especially students of color. It’s essential that our students come out of college with not only good skills, but without the burden of manageable debt so that they can get good jobs and truly thrive.”
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Follow Barbara Lee on Facebook and Twitter at @RepBarbaraLee. To learn more, visit lee.house.gov.
Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip, as well as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus(CPC). She is also chair of the new Whip Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.