Hultgren’s support of education dubious

I just watched Congressman Hultgren’s YouTube video where he read a couple of constituent letters concerning the Student Loan Program. I was really touched with his apparent concern for the students He almost made me believe he really cared. I would urge everyone to search “From the Mailbag: Student Loans” on YouTube and watch his “compassion.”

There are a few facts one needs to understand before they watch the video. He talked proudly of his support for the bill HR 4628, called the Interest Rate Reduction Act, which was not “debated,” voted on, or passed until April 27 after President Obama’s speech at UNC Chapel Hill on April 24 elevating the topic of the Stafford Loan Rate doubling on July 1. In fact, the president urged Congress to act on this during the State of the Union address, but nothing had been done or introduced until now. Why? In the video, he talks about how “we all agree that we need to support extending the lower interest rates.” Since when? He further expresses his concern when he says, “Don’t worry, the bill is wholly paid for so there is no additional cost to taxpayers, by repealing section 4002 of the Affordable Care Act. What we are doing is reducing spending, which we really need to do anyhow really across the board, we’re putting it into priority areas and education has to be one of those areas …”

Really? He voted for the Ryan budget? So where is this concept of prioritizing education in the Ryan budget he so proudly supported? In fact, this piece of legislation “locks the rate at 6.8 percent” and reduces the funds available for Pell Grants by nearly 20 percent. This doesn’t sound like supporting education to me. We need a representative who won’t pander to his constituents.

David Johnson

Geneva