Obama Plays Election-Year Politics While Students Get Squeezed

Students Are Left On The Sidelines As Obama Continues To Play Political Games

OBAMA HAS THREATENED TO VETO LEGISLATION THAT WOULD KEEP STUDENT LOAN RATES LOW

As Congress Moves Forward, The Obama Administration Promised To Veto House Legislation That Would Extend The Low-Interest Rates For Students. “The Obama administration threatened to veto the House Republican version of the extension of the student loan bill Friday, arguing that it cuts funding for preventive health services to offset the one year extension of the 3.4 percent student loan rate.” (Arlette Sanz, “Obama Threatens To Veto GOP Student Loan Extension To Protect Fund He Planned To Cut,” ABC News , 4/27/12)

Obama Makes Up Absurd Attack, Arguing That GOP’s Plan To Pay For Lower Interest Rates Would Hurt Women’s Health

The Obama Administration Defends The Threat Of Veto, Citing Cuts In The Prevention Fund Would Harm The Health Of Women. “In a statement released Friday, the OMB said the GOP version of the bill includes ‘an attempt to repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund, created to help prevent disease, detect it early, and manage conditions before they become severe. Women, in particular, will benefit from this Prevention Fund, which would provide for hundreds of thousands of screenings for breast and cervical cancer. This is a politically-motivated proposal and not the serious response.'” (Arlette Sanz, “Obama Threatens To Veto GOP Student Loan Extension To Protect Fund He Planned To Cut,” ABC News , 4/27/12)

Fact Checkers Find That Obama Is Distorting The Prevention Fund’s Impact On Women’s Health

FactCheck.org: “We’ll Chalk This Up As Another Distortion In The Political ‘War On Women.'” (“White House Spins Women’s Health,” FactCheck.org, 5/2/12)

• Obama And The Democrats Are “Overselling – By A – Long Shot” The Prevention Funds Impact On Women’s Health. “But the White House is overselling – by a long shot – the idea that the fund specifically helps women.” (“White House Spins Women’s Health,” FactCheck.org, 5/2/12)

The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker” Gave Nancy Pelosi “Two Pinocchios” On Her Claim That Republicans Are Waging An Assault On Women’s Health. “We wavered between one and two Pinocchios but ultimately this fits with two on our scale: ‘Some factual error may be involved but not necessarily. A politician can create a false, misleading impression by playing with words and using legalistic language that means little to ordinary people.'” (Glenn Kessler, “A GOP ‘Assault’ On Women’s Health?,” The Washington Post , 5/3/12)

• The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker”: “Assault On Women” Claim “Smacks Of Political Opportunism.” “Maybe evidence of that will emerge through the regular appropriations process-at which point we could revisit this ruling – but for the moment this smacks of political opportunism.” (Glenn Kessler, “A GOP ‘Assault’ On Women’s Health?,” The Washington Post , 5/3/12)

FactCheck.org: Obama And His Administration Are “Greatly Exaggerating” The Benefits For Women From ObamaCare’s Prevention Fund. “Republicans are right: The White House is greatly exaggerating when it says that ‘women, in particular,’ benefit from a prevention fund that the House GOP proposes to repeal. The truth is that the fund in question wasn’t set up specifically for women’s health programs, and we could find no concrete evidence that it has paid anything to gender-specific health programs so far.” (“White House Spins Women’s Health,” FactCheck.org, 5/2/12)

Not To Mention That Obama Has Already Cut The Fund He Is Now Defending

Obama’s Criticism Comes Even After Obama Had Proposed To Cut The Very Same Fund By Billions And Agreed To Slash The Fund By $5 Billion. “The president’s fiscal 2013 budget proposes to slash $4 billion from the fund over 10 years. Furthermore, in February, Democrats agreed to a $5 billion cut in the fund to help pay for extending a payroll tax cut and delaying a reduction in Medicare payment to physicians. That bill passed with bipartisan support.” (“White House Spins Women’s Health,” FactCheck.org, 5/2/12)

• Last Year, The Obama Administration Didn’t Argue That Cutting The Fund Would Hurt Women. “A year ago, however, when another Republican bill proposed eliminating the fund, the White House stated its opposition to the measure but didn’t mention women’s health as a focus of the fund.” (“White House Spins Women’s Health,” FactCheck.org, 5/2/12)

YOUNG ADULTS CONTINUE TO FEEL THE SQUEEZE UNDER OBAMA

Student Loan Debt Is At An “All-Time High”

“The Rising Cost Of A College Education And The Failure Of Federal Grants To Keep Pace Has Led To Average Student Loan Debt Hitting An All-Time High.” (Tim Grant, “Education’s Cost Crisis,” Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 11/15/11)

“Average Student Loan Debt Recently Topped $25,000, Up 25 Percent In 10 Years.”(Tam Raum, “Recovery Threatened By Runaway Student Loan Debt,” The Associated Press, 4/3/12)

• Student Loan Debt Amongst College Seniors Is Up 5 Percent. “College seniors who graduated with student loans individually owed an average of $25,250, up 5 percent from the previous year, according to a study by Brewer’s group.” (Eric Plainin, “Student Loans Seen As Potential ‘Next Debt Bomb,’ For U.S. Economy,”The Washington Post , 3/10/12)

Student Loan Debt Has Exceeded $1 Trillion. “The amount Americans owe on student loans is far higher than earlier estimates and could lead some consumers to postpone buying homes, potentially slowing the housing recovery, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Total student debt outstanding appears to have surpassed $1 trillion late last year, said officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created in the wake of the financial crisis. That would be roughly 16% higher than an estimate earlier this year by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.” (Josh Mitchell And Maya Jackson-Randall, “Student-Loan Debt Tops $1 Trillion,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/12)

The Cost Of College Is At An “All-Time High”

When Obama Took Office, The Average Tuition For An In-State Four Year College Was $6,585. (“Trends In College Pricing 2009,” College Board, 2008)

• The Average Tuition For An In-State Four Year College In 2011 Was $8,244, A 25 Percent Increase. (“Trends In College Pricing 2011,” College Board, 2011)

In 2011, The Cost Of College Increased By Thousands At Public Universities. “Public four-year universities charged residents an average of $8,244, up 8.3% from last year, while public two-year schools charged an average of $2,963, up 8.7%, says the report by the non-profit College Board. About 80% of the nation’s undergraduates attend public institutions.” (Mary Beth Marklein, “Tuition And Fees Rise More Than 8% At U.S. Public Colleges,” USA Today, 10/25/11)

The Cost Of College Is Currently At “An All Time High.” “Nationally, the cost of a full credit load has passed $8,000, an all-time high. Throw in room and board, and the average list price for a state school now runs more than $17,000 a year, according to the twin annual reports on college costs and student aid published Wednesday by the College Board.” (Justin Poe, “College Prices Up Again As States Slash Budgets,” The Associated Press, 10/26/11)

• The Price Of College Increased Double The Rate Of Inflation Between July 2010 And July 2011. “That increase is more than double the inflation rate of 3.6% between July 2010 and July 2011. Family earnings dropped across all income levels. And state funding per student declined by 4% in 2010, the latest year available, and 23% over the past decade, the report says.” (Mary Beth Marklein, “Tuition And Fees Rise More Than 8% At U.S. Public Colleges,” USA Today, 10/25/11)

Recent Graduates Continue To Suffer In The Obama Economy

53.6 Percent Of Young Americans With A College Degree Are “Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Highest Number Since 2001. “About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

• The Number Of College Degree Holders Who Are Underemployed Has Increased Under Obama. “Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

“The College Class Of 2012 Is In For A Rude Welcome To The World Of Work.” (Hope Yen, “1 In 2 New Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed,” The Associated Press, 4/23/12)

When Today’s Graduates Find A Job, They Will Earn 9 Percent Less. “If history is a guide, when today’s young graduates do find a job, they will earn 9% less on average than if they had finished college in better times, according to a recent Columbia University study. The worst-off graduates may be those from the classes of 2008 and 2009, according to Yale School of Management economist Lisa Kahn.” (Joe Light and Lauren Weber, “Generation Jobless: For Those Under 24, A Portrait In Crisis,” The Wall Street Journal , 11/7/11)