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Weekly Address: President Obama – Supporting America’s Students

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The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

 

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, President Obama underscored the importance of helping to lift the burden of crushing student loan debt faced by too many Americans and highlighted the efforts he’s taken to ensure we uphold America’s commitment to provide a quality education for all who are willing to work for it. While the President will continue to take action on his own, he urged Congress to do its part and commended Senate Democrats for working on a bill that would help more young people save money.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Supporting America’s Students

Hi, everybody.  This is commencement season, a time for graduates and their families to celebrate one of the greatest achievements of a young person’s life. But for many graduates, it also means feeling trapped by a whole lot of student loan debt.  And we’ve got to do more to lift that burden.

See, in a 21st century economy, the surest pathway into the middle class is some form of higher education.  The unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor’s degree is just 3.3 percent – about half what it is for high school graduates.  The typical graduate of a four-year college earns $15,000 more per year than someone with just a high school degree.  

But at a time when college has never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive.

That’s why, since I took office, I’ve worked to make college more affordable.  We reformed a student loan system that gave away billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks and invested that money where it makes a bigger bang – in helping more young people afford a higher education.

But over the past three decades, the average tuition at a public four-year college has more than tripled.  The average undergraduate student who borrows for college now graduates owing almost $30,000. And I’ve heard from too many young people who are frustrated that they’ve done everything they were supposed to do – and now they’re paying the price.

I’ve taken action on my own to offer millions of students the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments to 10% of their income.  But Congress needs to do its part. The good news is that Senate Democrats are working on a bill that would help more young people save money.  Just like you can refinance your mortgage at a lower interest rate, this bill would let you refinance your student loans.  And we’d pay for it by closing loopholes that allow some millionaires to pay a lower tax rate than the middle class.

That’s the choice that your representatives in Congress will make in the coming weeks – protect young people from crushing debt, or protect tax breaks for millionaires. And while Congress decides what it’s going to do, I will keep doing whatever I can without Congress to help responsible young people pay off their loans – including new action I will take this week.

This country has always made a commitment to put a good education within the reach of all who are willing to work for it.  That’s what made us an economic superpower.  That’s what makes us special.  And as long as I hold this office, I’ll keep fighting to give more young people the chance to earn their own piece of the American Dream.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Bolding added.

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5 comments

  1. JanF

    Republicans will have a difficult time making the case for allowing harm to young people in order to protect their wealthy patrons.

  2. JanF

    GOP’s quiet Obamacare disaster: How this week’s biggest story got overlooked

    We’re only six days into June, and opponents of the ACA have already had a terrible month.

    The big news was the release of new data from the White House indicating that enrollment in Medicaid has surged in states that elected to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act. In April alone more than 1 million people signed up for coverage. Medicaid enrollment in states that rejected the expansion has also gone up as people who didn’t know they were eligible started signing up – the so-called Woodwork Effect. Add all those enrollees to the number of people who were on Medicaid or CHIP prior to the ACA’s implementation, and you come up with just over 65 million Americans enrolled in the program.

    … early indicators are that expanding access to healthcare is having the intended effect of reducing instances of uncompensated care. The Colorado Hospital Association released a study this week showing that “hospitals in states that chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw significantly more Medicaid patients and a related reduction in self-pay and charity care cases.” Hospitals are obligated to treat and stabilize emergency room patients regardless of their insurance status or their ability to pay. If they can’t pay, the hospital gets stuck with the bill. Expanding the Medicaid rolls means that more people can seek out care and hospitals will have to absorb less bad debt, which could lead to lower healthcare costs overall.

    The real sign that patiently waiting the Republicans out is paying off … gearing up to run on the ACA:

    Senate Democrats sent a letter this week to Republican governors in states that rejected expanded Medicaid urging them to “put politics aside and do the right thing in helping to expand Medicaid coverage to the millions of Americans who desperately need it.” Among the signatories to that letter were Sens. Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu and Mark Begich, all of whom are facing tough reelection fights this cycle.

  3. JanF

    Richard Mourdock: US Economic Woes Like Nazi Germany

    “The people of Germany in a free election selected the Nazi party because they made great promises that appealed to them because they were desperate and destitute,” Mourdock said during a speech at the Indiana Republican Convention in Fort Wayne, as quoted by the Indianapolis Star. “And why is that? Because Germany was bankrupt.”

    “Over the next several years, every time a program began to fall apart, Mr. Hitler’s party was very, very good at dividing Germany by pointing to this group or that group,” he added. “First they went after their political opponents. Then they went after the aristocrats. Then they went after the trade unionists. And ultimately of course they went after the Jews. They deprived them of their property, their rights, their citizenship, and for millions their humanity. Because they were bankrupt!”

    And for those who say “oh, Mr. RapeIsGodsIntention is just spouting nonsense again”, please note that the Indiana Republican Party invited this guy to speak at their convention.

  4. JanF

    The U.S. Finally Gets Past Pre-Recession Jobs Total

    The U.S. hit a milestone Friday, as the government’s monthly jobs report showed that in May, the country finally surpassed the number of jobs it had before the recession started. The gain of 217,000 jobs put the total U.S. payroll number at nearly 138.5 million jobs.

    These are totals, though, and don’t reflect that many of the new jobs are McJobs which a family needs two or more of to survive.

    Plus:

    … while job growth has been steady, it’s been too slow to absorb young workers who have come of age since 2007 – and too slow to help millions of other people who were laid off.

    “We should have added around 7 million jobs” in that time, Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute says in John’s report on Morning Edition. “So, just getting back to where we were before the recession began nearly 6 1/2 years ago leaves us in a really big hole.”

     

  5. JanF

    GOP skepticism of Obama’s executive power is all too convenient

    Republicans have settled on an important limiting principle for preventing presidential power grabs: If Obama does it, it’s probably illegal.

    Having initially trashed President Barack Obama for not doing everything possible to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been in the custody of the Taliban until late last week, Republicans quickly transitioned to condemning him for taking action last week. Some objected to the trade of five former Taliban in exchange for Bergdahl, while others objected to the administration’s failure to notify Congress within 30 days of the transfer as required by a law (designed to make it more difficult to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay). Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., even raised the possibility of impeachment if Obama did so again.

    While others just objected that it wasn’t President McCain (or President Palin) making the decisions.

    The most ridiculous complaint was from Dick “Dick” Cheney who called it overstepping executive power. A reminder:

    Bush-era justice department official John Yoo, who once suggested that it could be legal for the president to order a child’s testicles crushed, wondered whether the [Bergdahl] transfer was legal.”

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