There was Sen. Heinrich on the pages of the Albuquerque Journal this Sunday arguing for Congress to (again) intervene in the federal government’s student loan program. The idea of The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Act is to allow students to refinance their debts down to today’s market rates.
The bill before Congress merely rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic and the sinking ship is the student loan program which seems to do more harm than good. Rather than making college more affordable, the loan program has helped drive tuition higher:
The truth is that Washington should find the quickest exit it can from any involvement in student loans. After all, if government needs to be involved at all, the states which run most of America’s universities, would be more innovative and realistic about getting students to attend college (or not) and financing it than Uncle Sam. Instead, Washington, with its ability to go into debt and print money just throws more money at the “problem,” the solution for which is negatively impacts large numbers of college loan recipients who don’t understand the importance of studying in a field with viable career prospects or the power of compounding interest.
Boy oh boy, am I glad I received .an education before this shit hit the fan
When I read Heinrich’s editorial, I immediately responded to him with an email. (Of course, you have to jump through hoops just to send him an email–I find that ridiculous.) I wrote that people need to take more time to decide where to attend college, and then look at the field of study they plan to pursue and whether that will support them (as you have pointed out). I also said they need to work while going to school. I always worked 2 jobs and often 3 part-time jobs when I went to college. And I always had my best GPA when doing that–no time to goof off, so I maximized every free moment. Some people get the student loans, hoping the loans will be forgiven. How terrible of them to even think like that. But Heinrich, like all good Democrats, thinks that no one can make it on their own without support (and in some cases, total support) from all the rest of us taxpayers.
I read Heinrich’s editorial piece as well as an e-mail from him. What a phony; he pretends to care that the cost of education is going vertical when it is he and this administration that intentionally created this very problem to give themselves complete control over our colleges and universities. Now he wants to “look good” by claiming to care and for his next election. Give me a break. And he wants to blame the Republicans; I wonder where he got that idea? He has been a reliable vote for whatever Obama wanted to do including concentrating much of the legislative power of Congress into the Executive branch. Bingaman did his part in voting to give the Executive far more power than the constitution intended by voting for legislation that gave department heads appointed by the executive unprecedented power to dictate fees, taxes and set standards that simply force industries out of business; see what the EPA has done to the coal industry. NM has a string of senators who have done a very poor job of representing NM’s interest. Bingaman and Udall are among the worst but Domenici was no hero. Heinrich is just another who has his own self-interest to serve.
Your objection to Heinrich’s proposal will be banned as political speech, unauthorized by our Senator’s proposal limiting rights under Amendment 1.
The fed govt has no business in the education business; this is a state function, purely
Heinrich has EVERYTHING wrong