Obama Wants Help Students with Loan Repayment and Republicans say No

With President Obama speaking today on his plan to help the Middle Class, he emphasized a new cap program for college loans. In Nick Anderson's piece from the Washington Post explains it pretty well.

Under the proposal, monthly payments on federal loans would be limited to 10 percent of discretionary income -- above a "basic living allowance" -- for qualified borrowers. That would be lower than the current cap of 15 percent in the income-based repayment program that began last summer. In addition, the administration said, certain borrowers could be eligible for loan forgiveness after 10 years in public service or 20 years in other fields of work.

By capping to 10 perecent will allowing college students searching in the job market a little bit of breathing room. The breathing will help students and allow them to take jobs that do not provide with the money needed to pay back the loans. Federal service jobs and teaching jobs that come to mind when that are low paying, but need a four year degree. These people that take it upon themselves to do jobs that are extremely needed and are low paying. By having this plan enacted in a bill will allow highly qualified people into a field that needs highly quilified people.

The counter of this view is that this is a waste of money and that the American people do not want this plan.  They argue that it is a waste that creates a higher deficit and people showed their distrust in Obama's ideas by voting for Scott Brown in Massachusetts.  In David M. Herszenhorn's blog The Caucus, Republican representative John A. Boehner  brought the counter argument.

“Less than a week after the Massachusetts special election, the Obama Administration is vowing to ‘stay the course’ and double down on the same costly, job-killing policies that are leaving America’s middle-class families and small businesses high and dry.”

“This ‘stay the course’ approach doesn’t just apply to a government takeover of health care,” Mr. Boehner continued. “Out-of-touch Washington Democrats remain committed to all their costly, job-killing priorities, including more government ‘stimulus’ spending, a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax and ‘card check.’”

As it shown Boehner attacked the adminstration with a generic line. Boehner did not look at the what Obama said, but stuck to the generic line. He skipped the ideas of middle class tax breaks and the loan repayment plan for college students. The idea that Boehner did not come up with a counter argument or a counter plan he stuck to the Republican party line of disagreeing with the President. It would be in Republicans best interest to actually have a plan in place or an argument to counter President Obama's ideas. By not being flexable will hurt them in the long run.