Dozens of Higher Education Institutions, Organizations Endorse Legislation Introduced by Sen. Warren and Senate Colleagues to Refinance Student Loan Debt
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and her colleagues in the Senate have received dozens of endorsements through petitions and letters in support of the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act introduced on May 6, 2014, which would allow those with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the lower interest rates currently offered to new borrowers. Student loan debt is the second highest form of consumer debt, now at a staggering $1.2 trillion, and it is weighing on the economy - stopping young people and families from buying homes, buying cars and starting businesses.
The Senator's refinancing bill has been sponsored by more than 35 senators. An updated version of the bill was introduced yesterday, on which the Senate plans to vote next week. The current list of group and organization endorsers is below and will continue to be updated on warren.senate.gov.
• AFL-CIO
• AICUM (representing 60 colleges and universities in Massachusetts)
• American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
• Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
• American Federation of Teachers
• Campaign for America's Future
• Center for American Progress
• Center for Responsible Lending
• Center for Working Families
• Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG)
• CREDO
• Demos
• Democracy for American
• Ed Votes
• Generation Progress
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• League of United Latin American Citizens
• Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association
• MoveOn
• National Education Association (NEA)
• Ohio Student Association
• One Wisconsin Now & Institute
• Our Time
• Progress Now
• Progressive Change Campaign Committee
• Progressives United
• Roosevelt Institute Campus Network
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• Student Debt Crisis
• Woodstock Institute
• Working Families Party
• Young People For (YP4)
• Young Invincibles
The legislation introduced last month would allow many of the 40 million borrowers with student loan debt to refinance, and it is fully funded by enacting the Buffett Rule, which would limit special tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans that allow millionaires and billionaires to pay lower effective tax rates than middle class families. A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives John Tierney (D-Mass.) and George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Visit our website for more information, including a fact sheet of the bill and video of Sen. Warren's floor speech introducing the bill. The Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the bill can be found here.
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