Interest Rates Double on Student Loans Amid Democratic Infighting

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Interest rates on student loans doubled today,

“following top Senate Democrats’ rejection of a bipartisan compromise supported by the president.” We could have easily avoided this.

Back in May, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed the Smarter Solutions for Students Act – a bill based on President Obama’s own proposal and part of the Republican Plan for Economic Growth & Jobs. The House bill would have stopped an immediate rate hike and permanently fixed the program by tying rates to the market (not “the whims of Congress” which, as we can see, aren’t all that reliable). It also protects borrowers by capping rates.

Senate Democrats didn’t pass any bill at all – they left Washington and just let rates double. President Obama never really urged the leaders in his party to take action. And without the president’s involvement, “divisions within their own caucus” have prevented a long-term solution.

You see, some Democrats support a bipartisan plan like the one passed by the House. Others want another short-term fix (“let’s put this off for a year”) to “bring the issue to a head in 2014, when the party again hopes to rally younger voters to the polls in congressional elections ...” These Democrats would rather score political points than solve a problem, and students are the ones paying the price.

The uncertainty over student loans isn’t the only challenge facing young Americans under President Obama. Young and healthy “consumers could see insurance rates double or even triple” under the president’s health care law, says the Wall Street Journal. Finding work is tough too: “the unemployment rate for workers aged 20 to 24 remains stubbornly above 13 percent” and “the rate for those ages 25 to 34 is more than 7 percent,” wrote former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin in Reuters.

“This Democratic infighting is exactly why we have to take politics out of student loans and put in place a permanent solution,” said Speaker Boehner last week. Click here to learn more about the Smarter Solutions for Students Act and click here for the latest from the Education & the Workforce Committee.

Office of the Speaker H-232 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-0600 Fax: (202) 225-5117

President Obama's White House Says “A War on Coal is Exactly What’s Needed”

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President Obama's White House Says “A War on Coal is Exactly What’s Needed” How does the Obama administration feel about American energy and jobs? It wants to wage war on them. At least that’s what an administration advisor told the New York Times.

Hours before the president’s latest pitch for more energy taxes and regulations that will hurt our economy and drive up prices, White House climate advisor Daniel Schrag said, “a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”

But the administration’s war on energy is actually a war on jobs, families, and manufacturing:

Coal is responsible for more than 760,000 American jobs all over the country. And exports of American coal to energy-hungry parts of the globe are rapidly increasing, which means even more jobs, opportunities, and economic growth (if the White House doesn’t get in the way).

Families pay 11 percent less for electricity in states where more than half comes from coal. Coal produces electricity for 48 states and 40 percent of all electricity in the United States.

Coal also plays an important role in American manufacturing. It is used in steel, paper, cement, plastics, and helps in everything from water purification to the production of carbon fibers used in fuel cells and electronics.

Unfortunately, excessive regulations and red tape are already shuttering coal plants and destroying jobs. In fact, 288 plants in 32 states are closing – that’s like turning off the entire electricity supply of 11 states. Millions of households already spend more than a fifth of their take-home pay on energy – prices could “necessarily skyrocket” if the president gets his way.

And the president’s war on American energy and jobs extends beyond coal. The Obama administration has blocked the popular Keystone XL energy pipeline for several years. It’s locked up 85 percent of America’s offshore energy resources. Oil and natural gas production on federal land has plummeted. And it takes 30 percent longer to get a federal permit under President Obama.

Republicans are taking a very different approach, working to expand American energy production to help grow our economy and lower prices. The House has already voted to remove legal and bureaucratic barriers delaying the Keystone project, and will vote this week to expand offshore energy production. This is all part of the Republican Plan for Economic Growth & Jobs.

Last week, Speaker Boehner called development of America’s energy resources “our new economic frontier,” noting that we have “more combined oil, coal, and natural gas resources than any other nation on Earth. We’re sitting on the gateway to prosperity.”

What do you think? Is American energy our gateway to prosperity? Or something on which federal bureaucrats should wage war? Let us know in the comments below.