GOP calls for repealing student loan reform so private lenders can get a bigger piece of the pie.
Since health care reform was passed in March 2010, Republicans have railed against the individual mandate and imaginary death panels. But they’ve also been seething over a lower-profile part of the package called the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which made the government the sole originator of federally backed student loans. Critics have called it a government takeover, with Paul Ryan claiming that “they had the federal government, the Department of Education, basically confiscate the private student loan industry.” (For the record, you can still go get a private student loan whenever you want. You won’t be pulled off the street and tossed into the back of an FBI van.)
If Republicans get their way, this dark age of sensible reform and efficient lending practices will soon come to an end. Their 2012 platform declares, “The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans; however, it should serve as an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they offer loans to students.” In other words, they want taxpayers to assume all the risk and banks to enjoy all the upside. Their big idea for student loan reform is to roll back change and restore a status quo that already wasn’t working.
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/01/gops_newest_attack_on_student_loans/
= new reply since forum marked as read
