United States Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) visited Syracuse University Monday afternoon to hold a brief press conference about a bill recently introduced to tackle rising student debt.

Surrounded by about 60 students and faculty members inside Eggers Hall, the Democratic senator laid out the Reducing Educational Debt (RED) Act, a bill that would make the first two years of community college free. This bill would enable student loan borrowers to refinance at lower rates and increase the number of Pell Grants, which — unlike loans — do not have to be paid back.

The legislation is a package composed of three separate bills developed by Democratic senators: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), according to The Washington Post.

“These days college is becoming almost a necessity, but it is priced like a luxury,” Schumer said. “… We have to change the way we finance college.”

Schumer said most SU students graduate with debt but end up getting good, high-paying jobs that will help them pay off the debt. Even if that’s the case, Schumer said, the environment is more challenging compared to the one that Schumer experienced.

“These people are the future of America and it’s not as easy as it used to be,” Schumer said.

Schumer pointed out that the interest rate of student loans is between 7 and 9 percent, whereas the interest rate that the Federal Reserve is charging on banks is 1 or 2 percent.

“How dare the federal government make a profit on the backs of these hardworking people?” Schumer said.

The average debt of SU graduates in the year 2014 was $34,584, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

Schumer said the legislative package costs money but can be sustained by using the Buffett Rule — a principle that a household earning more than $1 million annually should not pay a smaller share of its income in taxes than middle class families pay, according to The White House website.

Schumer also suggested closing loopholes and ending tax breaks to oil companies as ways to fund programs proposed in the legislation.

Sean McAllister, a junior finance major in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management who was invited to this year’s State of the Union address as Schumer’s guest, was also at Schumer’s side during the press conference.

During a Q&A session with the press, Schumer said if the bill passed this spring, students would see the benefit of it by the fall 2016 semester.

Schumer said in an interview with The Daily Orange after the Q&A session that he wants the legislation to be a product of bipartisanship.

“The issues that Democrats are pushing are the ones that people care about, and if the Republicans move too far to the right or become too far obstructionist, they’ll lose out,” Schumer said. “I think the country is changing. People are tired of the obstruction and say, ‘let’s get things done’ and I’m the one who always reaches out to Republicans.”

Schumer also weighed in on bipartisanship during the Q&A session, when he was asked about Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died of a heart attack on Saturday.

“I didn’t agree with him on a lot of his views, but he was a brilliant man,” Schumer said. “He had a probing mind.”

Schumer added that an idea suggested by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to keep the vacancy of the Supreme Court after the presidential election is not right.

Published on February 15, 2016 at 6:47 pm

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