DODD ON ADMINISTRATION'S RESPONSE TO STUDENT LOAN MARKET INQUIRY: "DISAPPOINTING"

“The Administration’s letter is disappointing.  While it rightly supports proposals by my colleagues to authorize the Department of Education to take steps to prevent a significant disruption from occurring in the student loan market, the letter fails to respond to questions posed by members of the Senate Banking Committee as to what actions the Treasury Department is willing to take to prevent that crisis from occurring.  Perhaps most troubling, the letter offers a one-sentence rejection of the notion that the Treasury Department has the authority to utilize the Federal Financing Bank to provide liquidity directly to the loan market.  This response is inconsistent with the views of industry experts who recently testified before the Committee and the legal opinion of others who have studied this matter.  Instead of taking bold, decisive action to prevent today’s concern from turning into tomorrow’s crisis, the Administration instead has done less than it could, and should, do to ensure that every student has options to finance a higher education.”

 

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