New year, new Congress, new student loan policy?
The 110th Congress got going yesterday, making history by providing the nation with its first female Speaker of the House, San Francisco, California Representative Nancy Pelosi. The House got started by voting in new ethics rules yesterday, and in upcoming weeks plans to tackle issues such as increasing the minimum wage, implementing the 9/11 commission’s recommendations, easing restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research, authorizing negotiations for lower drug prices under Medicare, cutting interest rates for student loans, and repealing tax breaks for the oil industry. The Senate, led by Nevada Senator Harry Reid, is to deal with immigration reform, expanded stem cell research, and Iraq policy.
There have been quite a few stories in the last few months on the plans of the Democratic majority to lower student loan interest rates, including these in the Lawrence Journal-World, the Mercury News, the San Francisco Gate, and the Ledger.
But not so many articles have discussed refinancing and reconsolidation of student loans, which would ease the financial burden of high interest rates on borrowers who have already graduated. A blog entry on TPM Cafe exhorts the new members of the House and Senate Education Committees to "decline campaign and PAC contributions from Student Loan interests during your term on the Education Committee" in the interest of promoting the welfare of student borrowers as opposed to that of lenders.
Now is the time to renew efforts to apprise our representatives of our problem. Write letters (I have updated sample letters in our Resources section), make phone calls, and write to the media. With all the buzz about the new Congress and its interest in student loan issues, let's make sure our issue doesn't get lost in the shuffle.
Tangentially, check out this article from Kiplinger's on Sallie Mae's profits, an article about couples registering for student loan payments instead of china as wedding gifts, and an article advising that buying a home is not the best step to take to get out of student loan debt.
National Student Loan Debt Clock: $453 billion - happy new year!