Mr. PLATTS. I thank the ranking member for yielding me the time.
I rise in support of H.R. 5715, the Ensuring Access to Student Loans Act. While not a complete solution to the current credit crunch that exists in the student loan market, this bill is a very important and strong starting point to ensure that students can continue to obtain affordable loans for their education.
I am especially pleased that the manager's amendment included a provision that I was planning to offer as a stand-alone amendment to the underlying bill. Specifically, this provision will permit the Secretary of Education to enter into forward purchasing agreements with student loan lenders when purchasing loans through the newly established secondary market. This contractual agreement will provide the necessary confidence for lenders to not only participate in the market, but to continue to originate loans for students.
Some lenders, such as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, PHEAA, in my home State, have recently announced that they will not be originating additional loans due to the unstable market conditions. This could result in difficulties for students in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, in obtaining the loans they need.
It is imperative that Secretary Spellings at the Department of Education continue to work with Congress, as well as Secretary Paulson at the Department of Treasury and Chairman Bernanke at the Federal Reserve Bank, to provide access to capital sources for use in originating and purchasing loans.
Last month, I joined with the majority of my colleagues in the Pennsylvania delegation in sending a letter to Secretaries Spellings and Paulson and Chairman Bernanke requesting that they adopt both a short-term strategy to inject revenue into the student loan market and a long-term strategy to prevent future capital market disruptions.
While H.R. 5715 is a very important step in the right direction, the actions of Secretaries Spellings and Paulson and Chairman Bernanke will continue to be critically important to getting the student loan market fully back on track.
I certainly commend Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon for bringing forward this bipartisan piece of legislation--and, as the ranking member said, in such a quick fashion--the committee leadership and staff in getting this bill to the House floor aimed at providing relief to both students and lenders.
Again, I also thank the chairman for including language in his manager's amendment providing for forward purchasing agreements. Allowing these agreements with the Department of Education will help to stabilize market conditions and thereby encourage lenders to originate more loans.
I strongly support this legislation and encourage a ``yes'' vote.
