Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of 7 million students with subsidized student loans to urge my colleagues in Congress to come together to prevent student loan rates from doubling on July 1.

The cost of a college degree has increased by more than 1,000 percent in the last 30 years. Two-thirds of college seniors who graduated in 2011 had an average student loan debt of $26,000 per borrower. As the July 1 deadline approaches, America's total student loan debt already tops $1.1 trillion.

We're a nation that invests in our future, and that means investing in our kids. Mounting student debt is handicapping a generation of graduates who already face a tough job market. This debt is forcing them to put off key milestones like buying a home and starting a family. This delay in the American Dream will diminish our Nation's economic development.

Congress has come to the aid of our banks and worked to promote industry. Now it's time to step up for our students by preserving college affordability and keeping the American Dream within reach.

Let's stand together to keep Federal student loan rates down. I urge my colleagues to act now.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of many Illinois residents and one in seven American families in opposing the $20.5 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in this year's FARRM Bill.

I have always believed that an America where we're in this together is much better than an America where we're on our own.

For 46 million low-income Americans, SNAP is a helping hand, and it's our Nation's most important antihunger program. It's also the most effective defense against the steep rise in extreme poverty in America. Between 1996 and 2011, SNAP kept more households with children out of extreme poverty than any other government program.

I have ended my participation in the SNAP challenge, where I lived on $4.50 worth of food a day. While I merely participated in this as a challenge, I often thought about the many families for whom this is an everyday reality.

SNAP isn't a bailout. SNAP isn't a handout. SNAP is an assist. It's a bridge over troubled water, and there is still more we can do.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the many mom-and-pop shops and small businesses across the country as we celebrate National Small Business Week. I know firsthand the difference that small businesses make in our communities. Almost 70 years ago, my grandmother purchased a little neighborhood store and proclaimed to my grandfather, ``We're in the grocery business now.''

Like most small business families, we took pride in what we did. We shared in the trials and triumphs of small business ownership. It was challenging, but it was rewarding. Our grocery store was our family taking a shot at the American Dream and sharing that success with others.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the United States each year. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities--opening new storefronts, training American workers, and manufacturing and selling goods in our neighborhoods. This may be National Small Business Week, but our Nation wouldn't be what it is today without every day being a small business day.

Thank you for your leadership, Congressman Jeffries.

This weekend, three students very close to me celebrated their college graduations: Brace Clement at the University of Wisconsin, Amelia Lumpkin at Davidson College, and Whitney Horn at the Illinois Institute of Technology. These three young people represent the best and brightest this country has to offer.

Congratulations Brace, Amelia, and Whitney. I am extremely proud of you. They are just three of the thousands of students across the country who celebrated their college graduations this weekend. It's a joyous time, but for some it's also a nervous time because more students than ever are walking across the stage weighed down by student loan debt.

The cost of a college degree has increased by more than 1,000 percent in the last 30 years, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. Two-thirds of students who earn 4-year degrees graduate with an average student loan debt of more than $25,000, according to the report. Today, 37 million students are facing student loan debt, and the total student loan debt burden tops $1.1 trillion.

The mounting student debt is stunting the growth of a generation of graduates who are facing a tough job market and high student loan payments, or putting off key milestones, such as buying a house or starting a family, which further stifles the country's economic recovery.

The problem is most acute among students of color, with 81 percent of African American students graduating in debt compared to 64 percent of White students. And not only are more Black students graduating with debt, they are graduating with higher levels of debt. According to the report, 27 percent of Black bachelor degree recipients have more than $30,000 in debt, compared to 16 percent of their White counterparts. It is against this backdrop that student loan rates are set to double on July 1.

A Republican bill being considered this week would have student loan interest rates change year to year, based on a 10-year Treasury note, a move that could push rates as high as 7.4 percent. This is unacceptable.

Raising interest rates on student loans will be pricing our students out of the American Dream. At a time when a college degree is more vital than ever to national and global competitiveness, we will be putting the goals of attaining a degree further out of reach of our young people, particularly young people of color.

Our students, many of whom have graduated to find themselves unemployed or underemployed, are already struggling to pay back loans at the current rate level and are facing years--and, in some cases, decades--of

loan payments ahead. Raising the rates on students who are already struggling to make ends meet is just wrong, counterproductive, and will have a chilling effect on future generations of students who will be forced to forego an education due to skyrocketing costs. We should be opening more avenues to a college education for young people, not slamming the door shut in their faces.

I agree with my colleagues that a two-step approach is needed to address the student loan crisis. We should first freeze the current rate, 3.4 percent, on subsidized Stafford loans for the next 2 years and keep other educational loan rates steady to remove the immediate fear of students and their families of the impending rate increase. We should then investigate longer-term solutions to the student loan problem as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing our Nation's mounting student debt, escalating college costs, and broken financial aid system as a whole.

In investigating options for increasing college affordability, I agree with the notion that we should, at the very least, be open to giving our students the same interest rates we extend to banks. Our young people deserve the same backing and support. It is not only the right thing to do, but the investment in our students will net a much bigger payoff for our Nation for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, by now you've all heard of the terrible shooting that took place on Sunday during the Mother's Day parade in New Orleans. Like all Americans, I was saddened to once again see a joyous public event marred by gun violence.

Yet, as the Mother's Day shooting unfolded in New Orleans, I was struck by another lesser known story about the toll of gun violence that was playing out more than 100 miles away in Chicago. It is the story of love and loss told by the mothers of those killed by gun violence who were facing Mother's Day without their children, perhaps for the first time.

A group of these mothers gathered at a memorial outside a Chicago church to mourn and remember their children. As a mother who was blessed to spend the day with my children, their pain and anguish is unimaginable.

For every mass shooting that grabs the headlines, there are dozens more that take place on America's streets every day that are leaving a lost generation in their wake. And yet, in the national debate about gun violence, these everyday killings, this slow-motion massacre is often overlooked. And so are the mothers who are left behind.

Just as the mothers who wept for their children in Newtown, these Chicago mothers are also the faces of the aftermath of gun violence. Because whether your child is shot in the classroom or on a street corner or in a park, your hopes and dreams for them were the same, and so is the agony of your loss.

It is for these mothers--Clara Allen, Tanya Butler, Angela Blakely, and others like them--that I raise my voice and will continue to raise my voice in memory of their children to implore my colleagues in Congress to pass reasonable and responsible gun legislation. We must act now to end the senseless scourge of killings in our streets due to gun violence.

I know there are those who think that new gun laws are not the solution. I say they're looking at the wrong equation. Commonsense gun restrictions are part of a multipronged approach to stemming gun violence that should also include increased access to mental health services and better community and social supports. It will take a village to save these children, our children.

Passing commonsense gun legislation is a key step in the process by helping to keep guns out of the wrong hands. We must take a stand for these children and their mothers and send the message that we hear them, we care about them, and that their lives matter.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 141 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Thank you so very much. It is truly an honor to be standing here and humbling to have been chosen to represent the families of the Second Congressional District. I thank the entire Illinois delegation for their support and advice. I would also like to thank my many family members, friends, and staff who are here in the gallery today.

As I look around this hallowed Chamber, I know this is a place where so much history has been made. But today, I stand before you to talk about our present.

I ran for Congress so that I could work to bring about a safer, less violent, and more prosperous future, one in which our children can grow up without the fear of gun violence. Today is an important day in that fight. I look forward to working with you to protect our children from criminals and to protect our Second Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens. Because we should--and can--do both.

I look forward to working on the many issues we face, such as creating jobs, passing immigration reform, and continuing the hard work of improving our health care system. But today is about a new beginning for the people of the Second Congressional District, who I am so proud and honored to represent. I look forward to being their advocate and their champion and to working with you to create a brighter future for all of our constituents.

Thank you and God bless.