As Congress goes back to Washington for a brief fall session and students head back to college for the fall semester, U.S. Senate Democrats doubled down Wednesday on an effort to help students refinance their loans.
A trio of senators took questions from college reporters on several of their boldest reforms. One of the measures, the In the Red Act, is authored by U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and would help college graduates refinance their loans and re-up the number of Pell grants available.
“Our hope
Baldwin said that while components of the legislation could be crafted into stand-alone bills, they would first attempt to pack the comprehensive legislation.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, called on Republicans to schedule a vote on the bill, saying they brought no ideas to the table on the issue and that they were in denial a student debt problem even exists.
“The Republicans have no ideas,” Schatz said. “This is the equivalent of being climate change deniers. They deny a problem exists and
Introduced in January, the bill has been stagnant in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. A committee spokesperson did not return comment on the status of the bill, but Republicans have previously criticized the measure as being too costly.
