OBAMA ; HEALTH & EDUCATION POLICY GRANTED

OBAMA ; HEALTH & EDUCATION POLICY GRANTED






President Obama signed into law Tuesday a package of revisions to his

new health-care overhaul that includes a measure aimed at making higher

education more affordable.




The provision ends what Obama called a long-standing "sweetheart deal"

for banks in federally guaranteed student loans.




In a speech and signing ceremony at the Alexandria campus of Northern

Virginia Community College, Obama said the health-care reform

legislation and the revisions represent "two major victories ... that

will improve the lives of our people for generations to come."




He said the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 would

save taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years by cutting out the role

of banks and lending institutions as middlemen in federally guaranteed

student loans. The money is to be channeled into the Pell Grant

program, invested in community colleges and historically black colleges

and used to make student loans more affordable by capping repayments at

10 percent of discretionary income starting in 2014.




Republicans in Congress were unified in their opposition to the health-

care overhaul, and a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized the student-loan legislation Tuesday,

saying it would have "devastating consequences" for employees of

lending institutions. He pointed to estimates that 30,000 jobs could be

lost nationwide. The largest student lending firm, SLM Corp., known as

Sallie Mae, has said it could be forced to lay off nearly 30 percent of

its 8,600 U.S. employees.




Obama said billions of dollars that could have been spent helping more

students to attend college or easing tuition burdens went instead to

"padding student lenders' profits." He told the audience that major

banks "hired an army of lobbyists" to defeat the legislation and that

Sallie Mae "spent more than $3 million on lobbying last year alone."




Before signing the bill, Obama paid tribute to lawmakers who had "the

courage to do what's right" by supporting the health-care and student

loan legislation in the face of attacks he described as "fierce and

unrelenting -- and inaccurate."




Obama said the education measures would help meet his national goal of

having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by

2020.




Because of the reforms, he told a cheering crowd at the community

college, "the foundation on which America's future will be built is

stronger than it was one year ago."




"Today we mark an important milestone on the road to health-insurance

reform and higher-education reform," Obama said. "But more broadly,

this day affirms our ability to overcome the challenges of our politics

and meet the challenges of our time."




Obama was introduced by Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Biden.

An English teacher at the Alexandria school, she was asked by Obama to

host a summit on community colleges at the White House this fall.




"I am pleased to say that the reforms in this bill will make a huge

difference to those Americans who need it most," Biden said.