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Senate Ends Session with No Action on Student Debt PDF Print E-mail
News - Articles for State & Local
Written by GBP Staff   
Wednesday, 16 March 2016 11:12

uwgb-studentAfter all their talk, Republicans do nothing to help the nearly 1 million Wisconsinites with student loans. They go home without even a vote on the plan they hailed as a $5.2 million tax cut, Gov. Walker’s affordability plan.


MADISON - Almost 1 million Wisconsin residents have nearly $20 billion in student loan debt and increasingly that debt follows them for most of their life. Nearly 60% are over the age of 30 and an increasing number of people are having their Social Security checks garnished to pay their student loans.

But on Tuesday, another session ended with Senate Republicans still blocking the increasingly popular 'Higher Ed/Lower Debt' bill. That bill would make it possible for burdened Wisconsinites to refinance their student loans at lower interest rates.

Republicans even left without a vote on Gov. Walker’s affordability plan, a $5.2 million tax cut, saying they couldn’t afford to pay for it.

dave-hansenThe result? Nothing was done to help lower the cost of crippling student loan payments.

“After blocking a vote on the increasingly popular Higher Ed/Lower Debt bill that allows student loan refinancing, Senate Republicans amazingly did absolutely nothing to help those nearly 1 million people with student loans," said State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), a co-sponsor of the bill. “It’s as if they asked themselves ‘what’s the least we can do to look like we care?’ and then did even less. Today they did nothing."

"After all their talk, Senate Republicans refused to even hold a vote on the key provision of Governor Walker’s affordability plan, a $5.2 million tax cut," concludes Hansen.

***

Legislative writer Jay Wadd contributed to this story.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 16:05
 
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