January 12, 2007 Urge Congress To Help Make College More Affordable! On January 17, House of Representatives will vote on a plan to cut in half the interest rate on subsidized student loans. With college costs on the rise, more students have to take out greater loans to cover their tuition and other college costs, while incurring record student debt. In 2003-04, the median student debt borrowed to finance a bachelor’s degree was $19,300. The College Student Relief Act of 2007 (H.R. 5) would reduce the rate on subsidized undergraduate loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, using phased-in reductions over five years. Once fully phased in, the interest rate cut is estimated to help ease the financial burden of more than 5.5 million undergraduate students. Contact Your Representative Today Urge your Representative to support a cut in the interest rate for subsidized student loans. Social Security Offsets Legislation Reintroduced! Your E-Mails Needed To Build Support. Lawmakers in the House and Senate have reintroduced legislation to repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision – two offsets that cut or eliminate the Social Security benefits of hundreds of thousands of educators and other public employees. The Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82/S.206) already has over 100 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. Contact Your Members of Congress Thank Members who have already cosponsored the bill and urge all others to add their support as quickly as possible. You Did It! Your e-mails to Congress helped secure the first major victory of the 110th Congress – passage by the House of Representatives of a much-needed increase in the federal minimum wage. The House voted to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour on January 10 by a vote of 315-116, with all Democrats and 82 Republicans supporting the measure. Action now turns to the Senate, where the proposed increase may be considered in conjunction with tax cuts for small businesses.