|
 |
 |
|
House Dem blasts GOP comments about tolerance for high-priced student loans
-
04/16/12 02:26 PM ET
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) on Monday afternoon criticized Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) for commenting over the weekend that she has "very little tolerance" for people who graduate college with hefty student loans.
Speaking on the House floor, Courtney said Congress has less than three months to act before the interest rates on Stafford Loans double, which would add another five to ten thousand dollars in costs for people carrying those student loans. Courtney did not mention Foxx by name, but said:
"Incredibly, the chair of the Subcommittee for Higher Education spoke last week in North Carolina and said, 'I have very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with $200,000 in debt or even $80,000 of debt.' Really?
Foxx chairs the subcommittee that Courtney mentioned, which is part of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Foxx was on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show when she said student loans exceeding several tens of thousands of dollars make no sense, and seemed to draw on the personal experience of herself and her husband to justify her opposition to loans of these size.
"I went through school, I worked my way through, it took me seven years, I never borrowed a dime of money. He borrowed a little bit of money because we both were totally on our own when we went to college," according to audio provided by the website Opposing Views.
"I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there's no reason for that," Foxx continued. "We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that. I remind folks all the time that the Declaration of Independence says 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' You don't sit on your butt and have it dumped in your lap."
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
