Yesterday, the House finally did something to help ordinary people. They passed The College Student Relief Act of 2007 by a vote of 356-71.
The Democrats’ bill is implemented gradually over the course of five years. Students starting college this fall will see interest rates lowered from 6.8% to 6.12%, and those starting in the fall of 2011 will see interest rates drop to 3.4%. Democrats claim that the measure will save the average borrower “approximately $4,400 over the life of their loan.”
“Our young people should be driven by their dreams, not weighed down by debt,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement after the bill’s passage. “At a time when college tuition continues to skyrocket, this crucial legislation will help remove some of the barriers to a higher education,” she added.
I’m in a good mood. We’re seeing our first snow of the winter here in Philly and Congress is starting to get some results. Right now the House is debating a bill to sock it to the Big Oil companies. We fought their war, we deserve some of the profits.
Its good to see a nice dusting of snow from my window and less than two full days after I got back home from a quick trip to England. Actually the news on student loans is even better even if I have taken out all the ones I expect to need.
welcome back Luam. We lost on Tuesday. We got 41 points but jokered in the wrong round. In round three there were 15 available points and we got 15. But another group got 14 and jokered giving them a crazy 28 points in a single round. They beat us by 4 points. We jokered in the second round which only had 11 possible points. We got 10 and so 20. The eight point difference killed us and we actually had to pay our bar tab for the first time in over a month.
Ah bugger that, we still need to work on our Joker strategy, but the change in points available really makes that difficult. See you next Tuesday then.
yeah. We need to take into account the possible points factor. We only got six out a possible 11 in the first round, so we knew not to joker there, but we had 10 out of 11 in the second, so we went for it. Unfortunately, we were a perfect 15 for 15 in the last round.
Those who voted against the bill
Bachmann – MN-06: Fresh(wo)man, Evangelical baiting Republican. She needs a spirited challenge.
Baker – Baton Rouge Republican who claimed God solved the housing problem in New Orleans.
Barrett (SC)
Barton (TX) – figures
Bilbray – Ethically challenged Republican who has not yet solidified his hold on his CA-50 seat
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn – Blonde hypocrite from central Tennessee
Blunt – He disgusts me
Boehner – I am glad he has shown us what Republican priorities are.
Bonner
Brady (TX)
Brown (SC)
Burgess
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Carter
Coble – North Carolina wingnut
Conaway
Culberson
Deal (GA)
Doolittle – Should I say more?
Dreier – When will we finally eject him from his seat. The DCCC needs to challenge his CA-26 seat.
Feeney
Flake – He calls it fiscal conservatism.
Fortenberry
Foxx – She enjoys oppressing her impecunious constituents.
Franks (AZ) – He is an evangelical baiting hypocrite.
Garrett (NJ)
Gingrey – I guess he did not have to undertake any loan obligations in order to earn his medical degree.
Granger
Hastert – Bossed and bought
Hensarling – Howdey Doodey economics
Herger
Hoekstra
Issa
Jordan
King (IA) – Conservative values at work
Kingston
Kline (MN) – vulnerable incumbent whose MN-02 seat is a swing seat
Lamborn – freshman in the house
Lewis (CA)
Linder
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Marchant
McCrery – North Louisiana Republican whose constituents are very poor.
McHenry – wanted to eliminate a minimum wage in American Somoa. But he calls himself a christian.
McKeon
Mica
Musgrave – another reason to challenge her CO-04 seat.
Myrick – her constituents outside of Charlotte are poor.
Neugebauer
Nunes
Pence
Price (GA)
Putnam
Radanovich
Ryan (WI)
Sali – freshman Republican
Schmidt – good luck defending this in 2008, Jean
Sensenbrenner
Sessions – believe it or not, his TX-32 seat can be made competitive
Shadegg – so much for reform
Smith (NE) – the Club for Growth bought their vote from this Freshman republican
Souder – North Indiana Republican who was held at 55%
Tancredo – racist pig who wants everyone to remain uneducated
Thornberry
Westmoreland – he does not even have an education
Wicker – I am sure his poor Mississippi constituents appreciate this vote.
Wilson (SC) – South Carolina values at work
It doesn’t look like the bill does anything to lower the rates on existing loans. If true, that’s a huge disappointment.