House Approves Legislation to Keep Student Loan Interest Rates Lower and Create Construction Jobs
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation to keep interest rates on need-based student loans at 3.4 percent next year and also keep thousands of American construction workers on the job building bridges and repairing roads. The legislation passed by a vote of 373 to 52.
“This action comes just in the nick of time for millions of students and thousands of construction workers in this country. Without today’s Congressional action, transportation projects would have dried up, throwing countless American workers out of work, and a college education would have cost an additional $1,000 for more than 7 million students and families.
“Today’s vote will help students struggling to afford college and is a victory for workers rebuilding our country. However, it didn’t have to happen at the very last minute. I hope we can put an end to the brinkmanship and obstructionism. The American people deserve better. Congress needs to put progress for the middle class before politics.”
The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 will create or save more than 2 million jobs, authorize highway and transit programs for more than two years at current levels, and leverage federal resources to expand public-private partnerships in transportation. The legislation will also maintain interest rate levels on need-based student loans at 3.4 percent for the next academic year. Without this legislation, interest rates on these loans would have doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for more than 7 million students.
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