A “Nearly half of the Republican conference opposed lowering the rates in 2007 when the Democratic Congress passed the College Cost Reduction Act, and just last month they passed the Republican Budget, which assumed that student loan interest rates would rise to 6.8 percent in July. Now that it has become politically imperative to maintain the low interest rates, Republicans are using this moment to undermine important health care initiatives enacted in the Affordable Care Act.”
He continued, “In fact, they repeal over $12 billion worth of preventive health care funding, when only $6 billion is needed to offset the cost of a one year extension of current interest rates.”
Scott said Congress should pay for the extension by repealing the billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies given away to the oil and gas industry instead of attacking preventive health programs that support women and children.