Durbin calls on Senate to pass student loan refinancing bill

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) urged his colleagues on Friday to support legislation that would allow student debt holders to refinance their loan rates.

“Student debt has reached the breaking point in this country,” Durbin said. “Far too many young people are looking at a lifetime of debt just because they wanted to do the right thing and get a college degree.” 

{mosads}Durbin said that shortly after the Senate returns from its August recess on Sept. 8 it would vote again on the Bank on Students Emergency Refinancing Act introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The bill would raise taxes on millionaire in order to pay for the loan rate decrease.

Durbin is a co-sponsor of the bill, which failed to overcome a Republican filibuster earlier this year. He argued that the legislation is necessary because a generation is being bogged down by student loan debt, which averages $28,000 a student.

“The bill which I co-sponsored earlier this year will help ease that burden by allowing them to lower their interest rates,” Durbin said. “The Senate will soon take up this common-sense legislation, and I hope my colleagues join me in supporting it.”