Brunner Supports Student Loan Reform Legislation Efforts in Congress
This in via e-mail from the Brunner for Senate campaign:
COLUMBUS-U.S. Senate Candidate Jennifer Brunner, a well-known advocate of consumer financial protections and banking industry reform, is calling on members of Congress to support Senator Sherrod Brown’s recent legislation that is designed to lower student loan payments at no cost to taxpayers. Brown’s “debt swap” bill would allow college graduates with private student loans to refinance them into federal loans. “President Obama has been working with Congress to streamline the student loan process, making more dollars available to students and their parents by cutting out the boondoggle enjoyed by private lenders who make money on federally guaranteed student loans with little or no risk when defaults happen. Senator Brown’s bill takes student loan reform one step further to help those Americans already carrying expensive private loans for higher education from banks like Citigroup, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase, that are recipients of bailout funds and still pay exorbitant sums to upper management,” said Brunner.
Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase all received government bailout money this year. “These financial institutions have been irresponsibly permitted to damage our country’s economy. This affects all of us. While unemployment continues to rise, many college graduates cannot find jobs. If the government can give JP Morgan Chase $25 billion, and Citigroup and Bank of America $45 billion apiece in taxpayer dollars, then it can certainly allow for the refinancing of private student loans under the terms of Senator Brown’s legislation.”
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor passed the Student Aid Fiscal Responsibility Act, sponsored by Congressman George Miller, who chairs the committee. The legislation would redesign student loan programs and eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), a $55 billion program which was once a hub for guaranteed student loans from banks. Under the FFEL program, banks can charge interest rates of 6.8 percent or higher, even though the federal government insures these loans against default risk by reimbursing the private lender for 97 to 99 percent of the loan’s value if the loan goes into default.
Although the legislation would save $87 billion dollars over 10 years, Republican members of Congress are fighting its passage, saying it is not fair for private businesses to be squeezed out of the $92 billion student loan market.
“Ending the FFEL program will free up more federal dollars for more direct federal government loans, allowing more students and their parents access to a college education. I have yet to hear a valid argument against student loan reform legislation,’’ Brunner said. “American taxpayers want relief, not partisan power plays. Republican members of Congress should honor their constituents and get past party politics. Student loan reform legislation is good for our economy. Student loan reform legislation will strengthen the middle class by providing clearer pathways to achievement so our children can effectively compete for 21st century jobs,” said Brunner.
“Education improves the standard of living for Americans and their families and for communities as a whole. When I am elected to the U.S. Senate, I will work with members of Congress such as Senator Brown and Congressman Miller to help promote student loan reform efforts like the one pushed by President Barack Obama. I will fight for more and better ways to make higher education affordable and accessible for more Americans.”
Brunner, who is the first in her family to graduate from college and law school, paid for her law school education through student loans that took 20 years to repay while she and her husband of 31 years raised their three children and cared for three other children in her extended family.
Brunner currently serves as the Ohio Secretary of State, and is campaigning to replace retiring Senator George Voinovich in 2010. If elected, she would become the first woman to hold a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. In 2006, Brunner became the first woman to be elected to the office of Ohio Secretary of State.
