WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement in advance of the expected Senate vote on H.R. 1911.

My wife and I know the squeeze that millions of families are in today, as we pay back our student loans while trying to put away money for our kids' future college education.  It is harder than ever for families to afford to send their children to college, and that's why it makes no sense for the federal government to continue profiting off of the federal student loan program.  Last year, the federal government made a $50 billion profit off the repayment of student loans.  Why?  Because the interest is higher than is necessary to run the program at a break-even basis.  The bill the Senate is debating today actually makes the student loan program more profitable for the federal government, at the expense of students, and that's why I can't support it.

As I’ve been saying throughout this debate, this debate over student loan interest rates misses the bigger picture: rapidly increasing costs of college. Over the last thirty years, the full cost of college has skyrocketed by over 120 percent. That’s insane. The most important thing Congress can do for students is to pressure schools to use innovative methods to bring down the cost of tuition, and that's the conversation I hope to lead in the coming months.

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