Elizabeth Warren

House GOP Passes Own Student Loan Bill, Elizabeth Warren Remains Steadfast

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:53:30 GMT

Source: www.ringoffireradio.com --- Friday, May 24, 2013
While champions of the lower and middle-class, debt-ridden students, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) , are advocating economic fairness for newly minted college graduates, the GOP is looking to break their backs even further with even more financial burden. Much to Warren’s disdain, the House of Representatives just approved a bill that add even more instability and uncertainty to graduates’ bank accounts. In a 221 – 198 vote, the Republican-controlled House passed H.R. 1911: Smarter Students for Students Act . The main provision of this brainless act states that “interest rates for all new subsidized and unsubsidized students loans would be based on the interest rate on a 10-year Treasury note plus 2.5 percentage points, with a cap of 8.5 percent.” In short, the interest rates on student loans will not be fixed, but fluctuate. “The student loan bill passed the House Republicans takes a bad situation and makes it worse,” declared Warren. On July 1, student loan interest rates were scheduled to double from the current rate of 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. The Washington Post reports although the rate would not double, it would still rise significantly under H.R. 1911, should it pass the Senate and Obama’s desk, to 4.4 percent. Since, in the House, only four Democrats voted in favor of the bill and only eight Republicans voted against it, clearly putting the vote on strict party-lines, the Smarter Solutions for Students Act does ...

Elizabeth Warren’s Student Loan Bill Gaining Support

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:23:34 GMT

Source: www.insidearm.com --- Friday, May 24, 2013
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D – Mass.) first standalone piece of legislation is already gaining broad support despite being little more than two weeks old. The bill would slash the interest rates borrowers pay on federally subsidized Stafford loans. ...

Elizabeth Warren Attacks House GOP on Student Loan Bill

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:52:34 GMT

Source: www.motherjones.com --- Friday, May 24, 2013
On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed a Republican student loan bill the House just approved that would allow interest rates on student debt to skyrocket. "The student loan bill passed by House Republicans takes a bad situation and makes it worse," she said in a statement. On July 1, rates for federal student loans called Stafford loans are set to double from the current rate of 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent . The GOP bill, which passed the House on a mostly party-line vote of 221 to 198, would allow interest rates on those loans to rise or fall from year to year with the government's cost of borrowing, ending the system in which rates are fixed by law. Because market rates are low right now, the initial rate for those loans would be about 4.4 percent, but in coming years it could increase up to a cap of 8.5 percent. Warren, who has proposed her own student loan plan which would cut student loan rates to near zero, accused Republican lawmakers of making students into cash cows: Our students should not be a profit center for the government, and the July 1 deadline should not be turned into an opportunity to make more money at the expense of young Americans who are working hard to get an education. This is about our values. We should be investing in higher education to strengthen our economy and grow the middle class. The student loan bill proposed by Warren, a version of which was introduced in the House by Rep. John T ...

Elizabeth Warren Student Loans Bill Endorsed By Several Colleges, Organizations

Fri, 24 May 2013 06:09:10 GMT

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com --- Thursday, May 23, 2013
A little more than two weeks after introducing her first bill, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is already seeing a wave of strong support. Back on May 8, Warren announced her plans to set student loan interest rates at the same level big banks receive from the Federal Reserve. Come July 1 , some student loan rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, prompting Warren to push for legislation that reduces the level to 0.75 percent. By Thursday, Warren's website showcased that more than two dozen organizations have endorsed the measure. Among the notable supporters were major universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and groups like American Federation of Teachers. Read More... More on Student Loans ...

Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on “Too Big to F...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:15:38 GMT

Source: www.facebook.com --- Thursday, May 23, 2013
Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on “Too Big to Fail/Too Big to Jail” (Video courtesy of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office) In Brief inbrief.nwprogressive.org Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on “Too Big to Fail/Too Big to Jail” (Video courtesy of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office) ...

Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:15:37 GMT

Source: inbrief.nwprogressive.org --- Thursday, May 23, 2013
Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on “Too Big to Fail/Too Big to Jail” (Video courtesy of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office ) ...

Elizabeth Warren Confronts DOJ, Treasury In Hearing On ‘Too Big To Jail’

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:44 GMT

Source: voice4america.com --- Thursday, May 23, 2013
Confronting both the Department of Justice and the Treasury department in why criminal convictions were not used to prosecute megabanks, Elizabeth Warren grills the two departments by asking probing questions to find out who is responsible for making the decisions between civil enforcement and criminal sanctions. The hearing comes as many banks are potentially seen [...] ...

With a new proposal pushed by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senior Fellow & Chi...

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:42:38 GMT

Source: www.facebook.com --- Thursday, May 23, 2013
With a new proposal pushed by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren , Senior Fellow & Chief Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz states that students are being squeezed by current interest rates on student loans. Nobel winner: Cut student loan rates www.usatoday.com A proposal by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposal to reduce interest rates on student loans has one big economic backer: Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz. ...

Elizabeth Warren Coming To A Bookshelf Near You

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:21:52 GMT

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
NEW YORK — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite among liberals for her forceful advocacy for consumers and criticisms of the financial industry, has a book deal. The Massachusetts Democrat has an agreement with Henry Holt and Company for a book, currently untitled, to be released in spring 2014, the publisher announced Wednesday. Warren, a first-term senator elected last fall, will write about her childhood and early professional life, but the book will mostly be a "rousing call" for the middle class, according to Holt. She will describe her work on creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and her opposition to powerful interests in Washington and on Wall Street. She will also provide an insider's view of Congress. "For decades, America's middle class has been chipped at, squeezed, and hammered," Warren, 63, said in a statement issued by Holt. "I am eager to tell the story about my experiences on the frontlines of policymaking and to talk about what has happened to working families in this country and how we work together to rebuild the middle class." "Elizabeth Warren is a rare person in today's political world: a fiery advocate who believes that David can beat Goliath," said Holt's president and publisher, Stephen Rubin. "Her core belief in the power of everyday citizens, along with her front row seat in Washington and her invaluable experiences as a teacher, lawyer, senator, wife and mother, show a devotion and fear ...

Publisher: Senator Elizabeth Warren book coming out in 2014

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:09:52 GMT

Source: www.masslive.com --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Warren will write about her childhood and early professional life, but the book will mostly be a "rousing call" for the middle class. ...

VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren Challenges Treasury Secretary Lew On “Too Big To Fail”

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:21:54 GMT

Source: boldprogressives.org --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Yesterday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) aggressively questioned Treasury Secretary Jack Lew about efforts to break up so-called “too big to fail” banks. She noted that under the previous Treasury Secretary, the administration failed to support a Senate amendment to break up these banks. She then probed Lew about if he would support such efforts. LEW: I think we’re on a path now which is the right path, which is to implement Dodd-Frank and then to take stock when we’re done implementing Dodd-Frank. [...] Warren: The question is though, Secretary Lew, this is about concentration. We all said back in 2009, 2009, the problem that caused the financial crash in part was concentration in the banking industry. And what do we see now? We see more concentration. [...] How big do the biggest banks have to get before we consider breaking them up? They’re thirty percent larger now than they were five years ago. Do they have to double in size? Triple in size? Quadruple in size, before we talk about breaking up the biggest financial institutions? [...] LEW: There are many things going on and I’m not trying to avoid addressing the question of “too big to fail,” I’m trying to address quite clearly that that’s an unacceptable policy. But I think we have to take in account all the factors that together add up to systemic risk. Warren: Fair enough, Mr. Lew, Secretary Lew. But I really think the evidence suggests that concentration is one of those ...

VIDEO: Watch Elizabeth Warren ask the Treasury Secretary to support efforts to b...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:21:03 GMT

Source: www.facebook.com --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
VIDEO: Watch Elizabeth Warren ask the Treasury Secretary to support efforts to break up the Big Banks and then sign onto our campaign to finally end "too big to fail." VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren Challenges Treasury Secretary Lew On "Too Big To Fail" | Progressive... boldprogressives.org Yesterday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) aggressively questioned Treasury Secretary Jack Lew about efforts to break up so-called "too big to fail" banks. ...

Elizabeth Warren Puts New Treasury Secretary On Notice

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Source: crooksandliars.com --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
I sure hope Jack Lew got the message loud and clear. Senator Elizabeth Warren is not going to allow him to mollycoddle banks the way Tim Geithner did. In Wednesday's Senate hearing, she asked him a few pointed questions intended to send a very straightforward message . Warren began by speaking about a string of scandals that emerged as a result of the continued existence of "too big to fail banks." Despite this evidence and the fact that many officials have admitted the dangers to the economic system posed by big banks, Warren noted that various members of President Barack Obama's administration have appeared unwilling to prescribe concrete measures to address them. She then pointed specifically to a quote from a Treasury official during former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's tenure that suggested the department had been instrumental in scuttling an earlier bipartisan amendment that would have enacted restrictions on "too big to fail." About those banks considered "too big to fail"? Warren put Lew on the hot seat . "Have you changed your position?" Warren demanded, referring to the Treasury department. "Or are you still opposed to capping the size of banks?" Lew responded that "ending to big to fail is our policy and we're aiming to do it." But Warren wouldn't let him weasel out of the question with generalities. "I want to focus you in here," she pushed. "My question is about capping the size of largest financial institutions. ...

Elizabeth Warren Interrogates Jack Lew On The Growing Size Of Too Big To Fail Banks

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:45:11 GMT

Source: thinkprogress.org --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The biggest banks were already huge before the financial crisis, and concentration in the banking industry was in fact one of the causes of the crash. Yet they have gotten even bigger since then. Just 12 banks, 0.2 percent, control nearly 70 percent of total bank assets , and the 20 biggest hold assets equal to nearly 85 percent of the country’s entire economic output. This has many concerned that the problem of too big to fail still hasn’t been resolved since the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. Worse, banks may now be too big to jail , as the Justice Department has warned that going after potentially illegal behavior could have negative economic consequences. These problems led Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to grill Treasury Secretary Jack Lew at a Senate banking committee hearing on Tuesday about whether the time has come to cap the size of banks and/or break them up: As she noted, the four biggest banks, which were already considered too big to fail before the crisis, are now 30 percent larger. “When we see the largest financial institutions getting bigger and bigger…it tells us that we are clearly not on the path to resolving too big to fail,” she noted. This is potentially putting the economy at risk. Later she cautioned that “we’re playing with the U.S. economy here, the worldwide economy.” Yet no action has been taken to address this specific problem. “How big do the biggest banks have to get before we consi ...

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Obama and Elizabeth Warren Feed the College Beast. The proposals…

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:30:58 GMT

Source: pjmedia.com --- Wednesday, May 22, 2013
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Obama and Elizabeth Warren Feed the College Beast. The proposals put forward by Obama, House Republicans, and Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) would tie student loans to the market rate (either the 10-year or the 91-day Treasury rate), though each with its own variation. The boldest plan, from new Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), would reduce student loan rates to .75 percent (the rate at which banks borrow from the Federal Reserve) for one year. These proposals would offer students some relief, but none of them address the core problem that rising college tuition rates are closely linked to the increased availability of government loans. Stafford loans have been around for just over forty years, and over the past thirty, college tuition and fees surged 1,120 percent—four times faster than the consumer price index, more than medical or food prices. And this isn’t all due to a rising cost of teaching: Colleges have used their newfound wealth to bloat their administrative ranks and spend lavishly on construction projects. These new student loan proposals, particularly Warren’s, will only feed the higher education beast. Perhaps lawmakers should give more thought to policies that would increase price competition among universities and drive down costs. I think making them bear some of the loss in defaulted student loans would help. ...

VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren Grills Treasury Secretary On Too Big To Fail

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:03:11 GMT

Source: www.motherjones.com --- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
At a Senate banking committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) grilled Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on too-big-to-fail banks—financial institutions that are so large that their failure would endanger the entire financial system. "How big do the biggest banks have to get before we consider breaking them up?” she asked. Too big to fail is far from over. The largest financial institutions are still ballooning in size . In the past few years, banks have been beset by one scandal after another—from money laundering , to rate-fixing , to foreclosure fraud , and have mostly received wrist-slaps as punishment—probably because, as Attorney General Eric Holder recently warned , prosecuting too-big-to-fail banks for bad behavior might spook the entire financial system. Too big to fail almost died three years ago. Warren noted that as the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law was being crafted, an amendment was proposed that would have broken up the banks, but it didn't pass—in large part, she reminded Lew, because the Treasury Department (then under Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner) was against it. "Have you changed your position," Warren demanded, referring to the Treasury department. "Or are you still opposed to capping the size of banks?" Lew responded that "ending to big to fail is our policy and we're aiming to do it." But Warren wouldn't let him weasel out of the question with generalities. "I want to focus you in her ...

Obama and Elizabeth Warren Feed the College Beast

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:30:42 GMT

Source: blogs.the-american-interest.com --- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
College students may see their debt rise sharply overnight, as the interest rate for Stafford Loans is set to double to 6.8 percent on July 1 st . Fortunately, students have some friends in high places: The Obama administration, House Republicans, and various senators have each proposed plans that would forestall the rate jump. ( Inside Higher Ed has a more detailed account of these policies.) The proposals put forward by Obama, House Republicans, and Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) would tie student loans to the market rate (either the 10-year or the 91-day Treasury rate), though each with its own variation. The boldest plan, from new Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), would reduce student loan rates to .75 percent (the rate at which banks borrow from the Federal Reserve) for one year. These proposals would offer students some relief, but none of them address the core problem that rising college tuition rates are closely linked to the increased availability of government loans. Stafford loans have been around for just over forty years, and over the past thirty, college tuition and fees surged 1,120 percent —four times faster than the consumer price index, more than medical or food prices. And this isn’t all due to a rising cost of teaching: Colleges have used their newfound wealth to bloat their administrative ranks and spend lavishly on construction projects. These new student loan proposals, particularly Warren’ ...

Take Action: Urge your senator to support U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren's Bank o...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:20:30 GMT

Source: www.facebook.com --- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Take Action: Urge your senator to support U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren 's Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act! Support the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act action.now.org Urge your senator to support the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act (S. 897) ...

We're supporting U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren's Bank on Students Loan Fairness...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:49:11 GMT

Source: www.facebook.com --- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
We're supporting U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren 's Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act! ...

Elizabeth Warren visits Boston to talk college costs, student loan interest rates

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:08:57 GMT

Source: www.patriotledger.com --- Tuesday, May 21, 2013
As school graduations jam the weekend calendars this spring, the debate over rising college costs and student loan interest rates is growing. ...