CMU School of Drama


Thursday, July 12, 2007

Raucous House Passes Student Aid Bill

Inside Higher Ed: "The House of Representatives approved legislation Wednesday that would slash payments to lenders and use the savings to cut interest rates and increase grant funds for students. Although debate over the budget reconciliation measure devolved into partisan nastiness that evoked the worst of the British Parliament, in the end 47 Republicans joined 226 Democrats to vote for the bill. The 273-149 tally, though, fell short of the margin needed to override President Bush’s threatened veto."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm rather glad to see a strong bill work through Congress to assist students with better options of financial aid and loan repayment. We all know that college tuitions aren't going down and that the cost of living is rising. So I feel as if this would be the best for many students given its qualities.

A point brought up by the John Boehner may actually be a significant argument in terms of congressional perks, although I do not know enough about that provision to really display dissatisfaction. The Republican complaints seem to be rather petty and hypocritical. Even if the Democrats aren't being bipartisan, we already know that the Republicans in Congress have been more then unwilling to compromise with Democrats in the past. The complaints from the loan companies are also somewhat petty as they are just complaining about the reduction they face in profit. So long as they can keep a healthy profit going, they should have nothing to worry about.

As for the Senate, I would imagine that there would be enough Democratic and even Republican support to this bill. However, this bill would have to go through President Bush and he has made threats of veto over.

Heres hoping that the bill is signed into law so we can enjoy the benefits lower interest rates and better financial assistance for college tuition.