The Future Forum

Floor Speech

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I very much appreciate the leadership that the gentleman from California has shown in forming our caucus, and also especially when it comes to this issue which is near
and dear to my heart. I have talked many times during my campaign about the fact that I thought it would change the dynamic to now have a Member of Congress who himself has tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt because I wanted to do exactly what we are doing tonight, be able to speak on the House floor and say, yes, this is an incredibly serious issue that needs to be dealt with as the national problem that it is.

Depending on how you judge mortgages, student loans are considered either the largest source of debt or the second largest source of debt in America today, a tenfold increase in the last 20 years--tenfold increase. That is unsustainable. I believe that it is unfair and a tremendous burden to those who are young and, frankly, not so young and
raising families of their own. But not only is there the fairness argument, there is also the argument that it just makes no sense for the United States of America in the 21st century to be going in this direction, to be penalizing those who are attempting to better
themselves and become better workers, become better trained and ensure that they can participate in the workforce of the 21st century.

So I believe that this is an issue, frankly, that has been undercovered and underfocused on over the last several years. I believe that there is a danger of this actually being a student loan debt bubble. And I believe that it is about time that this Congress, the
House and the Senate, finally dealt with this as the national crisis that it is.

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Well, first, I couldn't help identify with the tweet from Dolores. Like she, I am a first-generation American. My father is an immigrant. And like Dolores, I am the first
in my family to go to college. Student loans played an important part in enabling me to go to college. So I don't in any way use my own personal experience as a woe is me. I consider myself one of the very fortunate ones.

But the fact that I had the benefit of winning scholarships and piecing together student loans and tens of thousands of them along with every work-study job you can imagine, the fact that I am actually one of the lucky ones and it was that difficult, I know so many people in the neighborhood where I grew up in Philadelphia who weren't as
fortunate. I know so many people today in my neighborhood and all throughout the country who have exactly the same story that Dolores had in that she says: Well, with this extra $350 a month, I would be buying a car; I would be saving for a down payment on a home.

It is interesting. I hear these kinds of stories not just from those who are in repayment, I hear them from Realtors who have been in the business two, three, or four decades. They will say to me: Brendan, I can't tell you what a difference it is today. Back when I was starting out, I would sell so many homes to younger people, 24, 25, 26. Now I
don't have one customer in their twenties. Why? Because the student loan payments are taking that up.

So that means that it doesn't only hurt the graduate who is in repayment; it also has a spillover effect in our overall economy. It hurts the Realtors. It hurts the contractors who would have done work once that young couple or the young person bought a house. It hurts the Home Depot down the street. There is this spillover effect in our economy. And it is getting to the larger point I was talking about that this is not just a problem for young people. This is a problem for families who want to send their kids to college. This is a problem for Realtors. This is a problem for anyone who wants economic development to be spurred in our country. Essentially, this is a national issue.

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Well, unfortunately, yes. While I am a born and raised and proud Pennsylvanian, I am sad to say on this score we are the second worst in the country. We have the second most expensive public colleges and universities in the Nation. Sure enough,
our Pennsylvania residents have the second highest amount of student loan debt in the country. So this is a problem affecting my State. It affects all 50 States, but, unfortunately, it is worse in my home State than almost every other State in the country.

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I am proud to be a cosponsor of Representative Courtney's bill. Elizabeth Warren is the sponsor in the Senate of the companion legislation.

This would have a transformative effect on helping those who right now are struggling with the student loan payment. So many of the ideas that we have are more geared toward those who will be going to college and aren't yet college age. This is the one idea that can actually help those who are living today under the burden of higher student loan debt.

It is important to note that neither of us are talking about forgiving debt or eliminating debt or giving people a free ride or allowing them to get away from the debts they incur. We are simply saying allow them to have the market mechanism that so many others have; allow them to refinance at the current low rates. This would be a
tremendous savings, literally tens of billions of dollars saved. And then that is money that in turn will be repumped into our economy. So I believe it would have an incredibly positive effect, and I am a strong supporter of it.

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I was just going to say how happy I am to welcome Mr. Larson as the newest member to the Future Caucus. There aren't many of us that have such wonderful white hair in
the future caucus.

But what is interesting is this is an exact linkage to the subject that we are going to talk about next with respect to Social Security. And that is, it is all part of the same system. The idea that you give opportunity to people, you demand responsibility, they pay into a
system, they benefit at some point, and then the next generation benefits.

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People on Social Security today are able to benefit because of the workers of today. Thirty, 40 years from now, those students who are worrying about student loans will probably still be in the workforce and making, hopefully, more money that will pay into Social Security that will help the workers of today, who will be the retirees of
tomorrow. So this is all actually linked and part of making America work.

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