We’ve bailed out planes, trains, and automobiles — what about students?
By: Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)
The federal government has successfully bailed out a lot of industries. In fact over the past 40 years, failed industries have been offered over $2.1 trillion in bailouts.
We’ve bailed out the banks to the tune of more than $1 trillion.
We’ve also bailed out planes, trains, automobiles.
Many times, people got jobs, the economy grew, and the taxpayers got their money’s worth.
And yet, with all this money spent bailing out everyone else, 40 million Americans are sinking in financial quicksand, with a total of $1.3 trillion in student loan debt.
This debt affects every decision young people make:
- Buying a home
- Starting a business
- Starting a family
But, here’s the deal, young Americans aren’t asking for a bailout. Students don’t need one either. We didn’t do anything wrong — we were saddled unfairly with high tuition and rising interest rates.
What we want, is to be able to refinance our loans at lower rates the same way people can refinance their home and car, for the government to not make money off our interest, and for public school students to have a debt-free education.
The 114th Congress is 273 days old, yet House Republican leadership has offered zero real solutions to make college more affordable or relieve young Americans from burdensome student loan debt. If we don’t act, it could be costly. Let’s make these sensible and fair choices now, before the cost of inaction goes up.
