In a DNC conference call Tuesday Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) accused presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of simply “paying lip service” after coming out in favor of keeping student loan rates at their 3.4 percent rate.
Noting reluctance in the House to the President’s plan to extend a break on student’s interest rates, Van Hollen said that Romney would be better suited telling calling Speaker Boehner and telling him to rally support behind the plan. This would, in Van Hollen’s words, “immediately” benefit seven million students in this country.
Van Hollen was joined on the call by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) who suggested that Romney was hypocritical for supporting the break while simultaneously endorsing the Ryan budget, which Ellison noted would double student loan rates.
Ellison said if he were a student today he would be”worried” that Romney once again might flip flop on this position–as it seems—according to Ellison—that he has taken about nine or ten different positions on various issues.
Currently, President Barack Obama is delivering a series of speeches at universities urging Congress to extend low rates for those receive Stafford loans before they double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Some Republicans, including Romney, have expressed support for the extension, given that Congress can find a way to pay for it.
