Earlier today, Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. The bill will end some of the worst abuses of the credit card industry by creating protections for borrowers – especially young people and students.
This represents one of the first times that Congress has ever taken on the credit card industry. As Ed Mierzwinski—long-time consumer advocacte with US PIRG—wrote in his blog yesterday:
I’ve been in Washington twenty years. For the first 19 we couldn’t even get a committee vote on credit card reform despite these practices.
Credit Card Bill will Help Young People & Students
Today Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights by a margin of 361-64 in the House of Representatives, following yesterday’s vote of 90 to 5 in the Senate. The President is expected to sign the bill on Friday afternoon. “By passing this legislation, Congress took a big step toward extending basic protections to all credit card borrowers, especially young people and students,” said Erica Williams, Deputy Director of Campus Progress, whotestifiedbefore the House Financial Services Committee on this issue last summer on behalf of Campus Progress Action.
[Click here to read the full statement & factsheet]
Campus Progress Action also participated in a press conference call on Monday with other student organizations. You can listen to the recording online.
No, it’s not a headline from The Onion…as Think Progress reports, Rep. John Beohner (R-OH) announced yesterday that the House GOP is creating the American Energy Solutions Group, meant to “work on crafting Republican solutions to lower energy prices for American families and small businesses.”
So just who is going to be part of this group? According to the press release, the group will be led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), a vocal opponent of cap and trade, and will also include none other than Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), both notorious deniers of global warming. Shimkus, you’ll remember, likened cap and trade to “an assault on democracy” just last week.
Here’s hoping they come up with some real solutions, but something tells us they are going to have a tough time of it.
“They are gearing up for battle. So am I. They will fight for their special interests. I will fight for…American students and their families. And for those who care about America’s future, this is a battle we can’t afford to lose.”
– President Obama responding to the “army of lobbyists” gathering to combat proposed student loan reform in the budget.
Wow…as Think Progress reports, yesterday during a hearing Rep. Shimkus, an outspoken opponent of the President’s green energy plan, said that proposed climate legislation in the budget represents “…the largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I’ve ever experienced.”
Check out the video below:
You can also read more about the GOP and climate skepticism here.
This blog post from Grist gives a good overview of how hearings went yesterday in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and mentions specifically moves on the part of conservatives in an attempt to counteract progressive voices:
“There were four separate panels on the climate bill on Wednesday, involving 21 witnesses. The fourth was added at the last minute to accommodate witnesses whom the minority members of the panel had requested, including representatives from conservative outposts like the Heritage Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute. The hearings stretched on for more than 10 hours, and by the end, as few as four members of the committee were actually present to hear testimony.”
We need to keep applying pressure to our representatives to make clear to them why we need a clean energy economy now. Take action and make your voice heard!
The good news is that a long list of higher education associations wrote a letter to Congress endorsing the President’s plan to reform the federal student loan system by phasing out the Federal Family Education Loan program, and use the savings created by eliminating wasteful subsidies to banks to expand the Pell Grant, make it a mandatory program, and peg the maximum award level to inflation plus 1%.
This is great news, since higher education associations tend to carry quite a bit of weight around the Capitol. Surprisingly, the list included the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), who have often been closely aligned (politically and otherwise) with the student loan industry. We are very happy that NASFAA and other associations representing colleges and the higher education professions are making their voice heard about these important policies.
The bad news is that Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) appears wary of the plan. In a recent Congressional Quarterly article (no link available) he said, “in my state we have a state-owned bank. They make 60 percent of the student loans. Eighty percent of those are FFEL [Federal Family Education Loan] loans [sic].”
Sen. Conrad is in a powerful position, and seemed to say that he is taking the side of student loan companies (for-profit or otherwise) over the interests of students. I wonder whether it is political issues like home-state special interests, rather than procedural or philosophical problems with the budget reconciliation process, that is driving his reluctance to allow for real reform.
A story today in USA Today talks about what many college students and their parents already know: tuition is creeping higher and higher:
“Though 2009-2010 tuition rates have not been set for most public universities, increases of at least 5% to 6% — and in many cases higher — are expected as university administrators struggle to maintain quality education amid state budget cuts.”
And, the money quote:
“U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan stresses the importance of affordability amid the budget and fundraising crises. ‘Colleges that go the wrong way on this — I think they’re going to see students walk away.’ “
Now, more than ever, we need to make sure that we are giving money to students, not banks, and that the grants students are receiving are as generous as possible. Obama’s budget plan would do that. Take action today and tell your elected officials why we need to back Obama’s budget proposals for higher education!
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today about the first round of arguments in the climate change debate taking place in Congress. Most notably, the EPA presented new analysis of the bill put forward by Reps. Waxman and Markey on the House Energy Committee, stating that the plan would cost consumers far less than the nearly $3,000 a year per household that many opponents have referenced.
With so much at stake in the coming weeks, there has been much speculation about which problems will be tackled first (if at all) during this Congressional session. While Obama has laid out clear goals of fixing health care, tackling climate change, and improving higher education, it remains to be seen which issue Congress will make a priority.
Despite Rep. Henry Waxman’s promise to move a climate bill through the House by Memorial Day, The Wall Street Journalspeculates that health care will be addressed before climate change issues, which are more controversial:
“A growing number of Democratic lawmakers prefer health care, saying that has a far greater chance of producing consensus than climate change, inside the party and across party lines. And they argue that it would be a more tangible accomplishment to present to financially stressed voters heading into the 2010 midterm elections.”
Read the full article here, and keep checking back here to see how things unfold. In the meantime, call your Senator today and tell him/her which issues YOU think should be a priority.
Congress is back in session and will now convene to hash out a final federal budget for 2010 in a process called Conference. And they must hear from you.
On Tuesday, April 21st thousands of young people across the country will call-in their Senators to support a progressive budget.
During the Congressional recess people just like you gathered all over the country to host events and lobby meetings, urging Members of Congress to support investments in health care reform, access to higher education, and green jobs. These bold priorities are strongly supported by President Obama, however the right-wing, conservative “Tea Party” Tax Protests, also held during recess, show how much opposition we face with a progressive agenda.
It is vital that the final budget includes reconciliation so Congress can vote up or down on the budget and avoid a block on progress. Conservatives are not holding back their opposition to spending in the budget and they are prepared to make significant budget cuts that will affect our future. So we won’t hold back either.
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
Earlier today, Congress passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. The bill will end some of the worst abuses of the credit card industry by creating protections for borrowers – especially young people and students.
