News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Contact: Pia Brady, Jennifer Brunner Committee Press Secretary
(Office)
614-602-6529 / (Cell) 614-579-7473
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.