Education

The Interest Rate Policy

• In September of 2007, Congressional Democrats passed a budget bill that included phased-in rate cuts on subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduates.

• This legislation temporarily phased down interest rates for subsidized Stafford Loans made to undergraduate students over four academic years, at which point the rate would revert back to 6.8 percent.

Recently, the College Board released a bipartisan survey conducted by Hart Research and North Star Opinion in nine swing states identifying education as a top concern for voters, especially women, in the 2012 presidential campaign ranking just behind jobs and the economy.  This should come as no surprise since education typically ranks high among issues that concern voters in each election cycle. It is especially important for Republicans to discuss improving the U.S.

Once again it is budget season in our nation’s capitol where each year lawmakers attempt to set priorities and live within their means.  Unfortunately they have not been successful in passing a budget resolution over the last several years and have continued to spend billions of taxpayer dollars that we do not have on unnecessary and unproven federal programs.   Most Americans would be outraged to hear top Democratic Congressional leaders proclaim that “we don’t need a budget” when they struggle every day to live within their household budget and make ends meet.   W

Once again the Obama administration is deceiving the American people.  Several months ago Secretary Duncan announced that since the Congress had not made any progress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Department of Education would do it for them by granting conditional waivers from the accountability provisions in the Act.   In fact, these waivers are actually new federal mandates in disguise requiring states and local school districts to submit to President Obama’s vision of how to educate our children in order to receive federal taxpayer funds.

This week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will consider the last two major remaining portions of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), when they mark-up the Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovative and Effective Teachers Act.

Last week school choice advocates and parents were dealt a serious setback by House Republicans in their attempt to move control of education policy to states and local school districts. With the introduction of H.R.

It is not often that President Obama borrows from the Republican playbook to push a policy that some Republican Members of Congress have been advocating for years. In his State of the Union address last month and later at an address at the University of Michigan, President Obama put colleges on notice that unless they find ways to reduce college tuition and make college more affordable, then his administration will reduce federal funds to campus-based student aid programs.

On the eve of his third State of the Union address, President Obama will go before Congress to remind them that unless they abide by his wishes and enact policies on his terms, he will do it for them.   And in many areas, he already has.  Under the guise, “We can’t wait for Congress to do its job.  If they won’t act, I will.” the President and his henchmen have defied Congress over and over.     Whether it is making recess appointments of controversial individuals without going through the congressional vetting process, granting waivers by the Secreta