Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-16) issued a release on Friday demanding support from House GOP Leadership to act quickly to prevent the doubling of the interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans on July 1. Joining Democratic colleagues in submitting a bill to freeze the interest rate on these loans at 3.4 percent for the next two years, would, according to the statement give Congress time to enact comprehensive student loan reform as part of a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
“Having interest rates double will force families to have to consider submitting to decades of debt or having their children skip college,” said Engel in the release, adding that, "It is an economic necessity that a higher education remains an opportunity for every student, not a perk for the privileged few.”
The Student Loan Relief Act was introduced on April 17, 2013, by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), and has over 150 co-sponsors, including Engel, but, according to the release, Republicans have failed to schedule a hearing or a mark-up on the bill. A discharge petition requires the House to consider the legislation once a majority of Members of Congress (218) have signed it.
Engel signed this discharge petition to bring up the Student Loan Relief Act of 2013 (H.R. 1595) on Thursday.
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The student loan bill passed by House Republicans on May 23 would increase rather than reduce student debt, according to the release. Currently, student debt stands at $1.1 trillion, greater than the rate of credit card debt.
Engel, who blogs on Patch.com about a variety of topics, is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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