Should the Lower Interest Rate on Stafford Loans Be Extended?
- Click here to download and copy CIS:: CIS for Student Loan Debate REVISED 05/09/12
The issue:
The "average indebtedness of the 2011 graduating class was approximately $21, 200. Democrats and Republicans do not agree on HOW to ease the financial burden of repaying student loans.
The problem:
A number of changes effective July 1 will impact students, and the increase in the interest rate on subsidized loans will impact borrowers after they leave school.
- Click here to download and copy CIS:: CIS for Student Loan Debate REVISED 05/09/12
The Task:
A. Watch ABC's The President "Slow Jams"
B. Read How widely favored student loans became a political football (below) and watch the ABC video clip (that accompanies this article).
- Be prepared to answer questions about the video clip (Click here to print a copy of the questions)
- Be prepared to answer questions about the news article (Click here to print a copy of the questions)
- Read at least two articles (one PRO and one CON) BEFORE class 0n Monday, 07th May, 2012.
- Decide whether you agree or disagree with President Obama's
- Be prepared to justify your position with details and information from the text(s).
PRO
What you need to know...
The Democratic controlled Congress plans to vote on a version of the bill (that the House voted on) that would be paid for by eliminating a corporate-tax loophole that lets wealthy individuals pay less in Social Security and Medicare taxes
- Video Clip President Obama Speaks on Student Loan Interest Rates on Whitehouse.gov
- Read the transcript to "President Obama Speaks on Student Loan Interest Rates"
- The Benefits of Low interest Student Loans at GoCollege.com
- The Government’s Backward Approach on Student Loan Disbursement (Part 1)
- House Votes to Avert Doubling Student Interest Rates by James Rowely
CON
Obama and the Democratic's plan on extending the rate and in agreement with the Republican plan to pay for it.
What you need to know...
The House voted on a bill to extend the low interest rate, offsetting costs by cutting from a preventive-health fund in Obama's health care law.
Obama and the Democratic's plan on extending the rate and in agreement with the Republican plan to pay for it.
What you need to know...
The House voted on a bill to extend the low interest rate, offsetting costs by cutting from a preventive-health fund in Obama's health care law.
- Key Vote Alert "No" on Student Loan Bill (house) (A Republican site - heritage Action.com)
- "Let Student Loan Interest Rates Rise" by Neal McCluskey.
- "Student Loan Subsidies Benefit Elites at Taxpayers’ Expense" by Michael Medved
- Student Loan Interest Rates: How Obama and Romney Are Both Wrong by Matthew M. Chingos, governance studies fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy.
How widely favored student loans became a political football
by Nancy Cordes
(CBS News) WASHINGTON - The latest battle in Washington is over student loans, of all things. It's a nasty fight, involving President Obama, Mitt Romney and Congressional leaders.
If Congress doesn't take action, interest rates for student loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1. CBS correspondent Nancy Cordes reports from the Capitol.
Keeping student loan rates low is something most members say they support and yet only 13 Democrats voted Friday for the House Republican-backed bill, which President Obama has threatened to veto.
Both sides are accusing the other of playing dirty.
"This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
To understand how a debate about student loans turned into a fight over women's health, you have to go back to Tuesday, when the President embarked on a trip to three universities, urging Congress to keep federal student loan rates from doubling in July.
"Stopping this from happening should be a no-brainer," Mr. Obama said.
Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, weighed in - in agreement.
"I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans," he said.
So, House Republicans quickly introduced loan legislation, and Boehner insisted they had intended to all along.
"To pick this political fight where there is no fight is just silly," Boehner said. "Give me a break."
More than 7 million low- and middle-income students rely on the loans. Keeping the rates low for one more year would cost $5.9 billion.
The Republican bill that passed narrowly Friday would take that money from a wellness fund set up by the president's health care law, angering some Democrats.
"What do they do?" asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. "They say OK, we won't allow it to double but we're going to take the money from women's health."
But Republicans note Democrats themselves voted to dip into in that fund last year to pay for an extension of the payroll tax cut.
"What we're talking about is using a slush fund that is provided to the secretary to spend as she sees fit," said Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota.
Republicans say Democrats are making a cynical ploy to attract young voters and women voters at the same time. Democrats say this bill should be paid for by closing oil and gas subsidies.
The Senate has yet to act, so the fight is far from over.
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