By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Congresswoman Martha Roby (R) from Montgomery said that Wednesday’s passage of a student loan fix in the U.S. House of Representatives after passage in the U.S. Senate showed that things can still get done despite the partisan divide and urged the Senate to take similar action on other House-passed bills that are aimed to help Americans.
Student loan rates spiked in July due to the inability of Congress to pass a plan that both Houses could support to avoid the automatic doubling of interest rates on government subsidized student loans.
Representative Roby said in a written statement, “I’m glad Senate Democrats finally agreed that the best way to address the student loan issue was with a long-term, market-based solution that takes the federal government out of the business of setting loan interest rates. This didn’t need to be a partisan issue, and I’m pleased that common sense ultimately prevailed.”
Rep. Roby said, “This shows what progress can be made when we focus on solving the problems Americans face every day. I hope Majority Leader Reid and our friends in the Senate will now choose to take similar action on House-passed solutions on other important issues, like giving working moms and dads more flexibility with their time, improving our job training system, and enacting long-needed reforms to ‘No Child Left Behind.’”
Rep. Roby said that the passage of a commonsense plan to address the spike in student loan rates and get the government out of the business of setting rates shows how Congress can work together to solve the problems that Americans face.
“This shows what progress can be made when we focus on solving the problems Americans face every day. I hope Majority Leader Reid and our friends in the Senate will now choose to take similar action on House-passed solutions on other important issues, like giving working moms and dads more flexibility with their time, improving our job training system, and enacting long-needed reforms to ‘No Child Left Behind.’”
Rep. Roby is Alabama’s only member of Congress on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Rep. Roby has been a vocal supporter of a House bill, The Smarter Solutions for Student Act, that used a long-term, market-based approach to take politics out of setting student loan interest rates, which passed the House in May. The Senate did not act on the bill until last week. Last week, the Senate passed the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013 which is virtually identical to the House bill. That bill was passed on Wednesday in the House of Representatives by a vote of 392 to 31.
Roby urged that the Senate pass other bills from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Those include: The Working Families Flexibility Act which would let employees negotiate flexible comp times with their employers; The Skills Act which reforms the workforce development system; The Student Success Act which reforms the controversial Bush administration era “No Child Left Behind Act”.
Congresswoman Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. This is her second term in the United States Congress.
