May 15, 2007
Petri Sends Letter to Budget Committee Leadership
in Support of Student Loan Rreform and Budget Savings
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) today sent a letter to House and Senate Budget Committee leadership in support of the $75 million "instruction" regarding student loan reform in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget conference report. Budget reconciliation bills need only a majority for passage in the Senate and are not subject to filibuster.
The instruction would require the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to develop legislation that would result in savings of $75 million to taxpayers.
Petri advocates legislation which would encourage the use of the more cost-effective of the two federal student loan programs. "According to both the President's Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, we could actually do a better job for students while saving taxpayers as much as $3 - $5 billion annually," Petri said.
"Deficit reduction should be a bipartisan goal," said Petri. "I support all efforts to cut
wasteful subsidies in federal loan programs and to apply those savings towards this goal."
