Al Franken’s empty one-liners aren’t fooling anyone. Minnesota college students are struggling to stay above water, but instead of helping them, Al Franken has failed to deliver. Instead, college students have become the punch line of a Franken-Schumer political agenda – but no one is laughing.
Two weeks ago, Franken tweeted his proud support for the student loan fix supported by President Obama.
@alfranken – RT! Join us in supporting @BarackObama’s call to stop the student loan rate increase July 1. #dontdoublemyrate
But just three days later…
Al Franken voted against a bill similar to President Obama’s own plan to prevent rates from doubling.
Franken Voted Against A Permanent Fix To Student Loan Rates Which Would Have Prevented The Rates From Doubling On July 1st. “Motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the Reid, D-Nev., motion to proceed to a bill that would tie interest rates for federal undergraduate and graduate student loans to the 10-year Treasury borrowing rate plus 3 percentage points. Savings generated from the proposal would be used for deficit reduction.” (S. 1003, CQ Vote #142: Motion rejected 40-57: R 39-5; D 1-50; I 0-2, 6/6/13, Franken Voted Nay)
Why did Al Franken, who once supported a permanent fix to the loan rates for struggling Minnesota students, have a sudden change of heart? Because New York Senator Chuck Schumer told him to. According to Roll Call, Schumer said the student loan issue was “a messaging winner for democrats.” Meanwhile, college students are left without a sound solution to prevent loan rates from doubling.
“Al Franken has never really understood Minnesotans, probably because he’s not one of them. Preventing student loan rates from crushing struggling students should be an issue of bipartisan agreement in Washington, but Al Franken would rather politicize the issue than help working families and students get ahead. Minnesota needs a serious Senator who works across the partisan divide to fix problems, not someone who instead takes pleasure in inflaming the division,” said NRSC Press Secretary Brook Hougesen.
