"Prodding Congress, Obama acts to ease student debt"

Prodding Congress, Obama acts to ease student debt

By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_STUDENT_LOANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-06-09-08-19-11

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Up to 5 million Americans struggling to make their monthly student loan payments could find relief under a program President Barack Obama expanded Monday, part of an election-year push by Democrats to paint Republicans as blocking common-sense steps that could help the middle class.

Dubbing it a "no-brainer," Obama also threw his support behind legislation to let some of those same borrowers refinance their student loans at lower rates, in a move the administration said could save 25 million borrowers up to $2,000 over the life of their loans.

"I'm only here because this country gave me a chance through education," Obama said. "We are here today because we believe that in America, no hard-working young person should be priced out of a higher education."

With a group of student loan borrowers looking on, Obama put his pen to a presidential memorandum that will allow those who borrowed through the federal government before 2007 to pay no more than 10 percent of their income in monthly payments. Existing programs created by Congress and Obama already offer that benefit to recent borrowers; Obama's memo will make it fully retroactive.



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