Yesterday, the Republicans successfully filibustered Elizabeth Warren's Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. All 44 cosponsors are Democrats and all 38 filibusterers were Republicans. It needed 60 votes but fell 4 short. Murkowski (R-AK) and Corker (R-TN) somewhat fearlessly crossing the aisle and Susan Collins (R-ME)-- living in total dread of Democratic challenger Shenna Bellows-- reluctantly tagging along. Yes, she voted to end the filibuster but put that in the context of what her her pal, right wing extremist Rick Santorum, candidly said. Mike Lux reporting from Amtrak:
After a while I got up to go get something from the café car, and it turns out the guy sitting behind me was Rick Santorum, which makes it all the more fun and all the more interesting. So pretty much the whole trip this guy is working his cell phone, talking to people about how anyone is better than McCain and Giuliani would be better than McCain because then at least he wouldn't betray the conservative movement… yeah, Giuliani is bad on some issues like abortion, but at least he would stand with the conservative movement. He was saying that there are people like Susan Collins who vote moderate sometimes, but at least she is a team player who always plays with the team and never plays against the conservative side even if she has to give the liberals a vote because she's from Maine.
She also enables the Republican Party and unless Shenna Bellows beats her in November, there's a better than even chance that it will be Susan Collins who is the vote to replace Harry Reid with Mitch McConnell as the Majority Leader of the Senate and gives the GOP control of the entire federal legislature! Yesterday, in leading the filibuster against the legislation, McConnell hissed that "Senate Democrats don’t actually want a solution for their students. They want an issue to campaign on." Every Democrat (plus 3 Republicans) voted for that solution. McConnell and all but those 3 Republicans voted to give the Democrats something to campaign on. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, said "Instead of fighting for working families and college affordability, some members of Congress are fighting to keep their millionaire constituents from paying their fair share of taxes." He had McConnell in mind, not Elizabeth Warren. "It is frustrating to watch the Senate refuse to even debate this bill while $1.2 trillion dollars in student debt stifles our generation’s opportunities," said Young Invincibles Deputy Director Rory O’Sullivan. "We are deeply disappointed that the Senate voted to block a measure that would have provided immediate relief to America’s student loan borrowers." In imploring the Republicans to stop their ugly, partisan filibuster, Elizabeth Warren went on the floor to say that "With this vote, we show the American people who we work for in the United States Senate: billionaires or students."Bellows is often referred to as the "Elizabeth Warren of civil liberties," and while that makes sense, it underplays her ferocious commitment to the bread and butter issues that Elizabeth Warren is so completely identified with and that Bellows' campaign is so keenly focused on. She's been one of the more persistent supporters of the Bank on Students legislation of any candidate in the country. Moments after the Republicans filibustered it, I found a statement Shenna had made on the topic:
17 years ago, I graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in international politics and economics. The daughter of a carpenter, I worked hard to get into the school of my choice, and my experience at Middlebury prepared me well for a future of choices. Even with significant student loan debt that it left me with. It took me 10 years to pay off those loans, but I was set up for success. My government, my college, my country, wanted me to pay off those loans in the easiest and fastest way possible. Because it was good for all of us for me to do so. But things were different back then. Since 2000, unemployment in Maine has more than doubled, going from 3.5% to 7.7% in 2012. The unemployment rate for college graduates from the class of 2013 is at 10.9%. These students worked hard to get into college, made sacrifices along the way, and now, with few jobs available and loan collectors at their door, they feel betrayed by a promise unfulfilled. This is not the America I experienced when I graduated with my own debt.Senator Elizabeth Warren's bill would reform student loans, so that students with existing debt are not further burdened by skyrocketing interest rates. I support her bill to “bank on students,” and I will be a champion in the United States Senate on student loans.Last year, 260,000 college graduates were stuck working at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. This is more than twice as many as in 2007, the year the recession began. Ironically, the United States Senate recently failed to advance a bill on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. My opponent, Republican Susan Collins, voted with her Republican colleagues against this bill. This vote did not just fail the 96,000 Mainers who would have received a raise. This vote particularly failed college graduates who are facing rising interest rates while trying to scrape together a living off of $7.25 an hour. Their loans are due-- many of their loans are past due-- and yet even those who can find work are earning so little that it will make no difference to their rising debts.Just before I launched my campaign for U.S. Senate, I met a woman who told me with anger and sadness that her college-educated son and his wife are living with her at home because they can only find part-time work. Young people in this state are graduating with record levels of student loan debt, and they can’t find jobs.Maine is ranked 7th in the nation for student loan debt. The average student in this state is burdened by $29,352 in debt, and with the unemployment rate as high as it is, finding ways to pay off those loans feels like an insurmountable task.But it’s important to remember that this bill isn’t just good for our young people. It’s also good for our economy. Crushing student loan debt is choking our economic growth. The profit that is going into the government coffers is money that young people can’t spend purchasing houses, buying cars, starting a small business, or paying for the everyday goods and services that keep our economy running. We are mortgaging our country's future.The burden on our young people is devastating and for many, permanent. Those whose loans have soared past hundreds of thousands of dollars have simply given up. One in seven borrowers defaults on federal student loans within three years of beginning repayment. Other borrowers are just barely keeping their heads above water-- in total, 30% of Federal Direct student loan dollars are in default, forbearance, or deferment. Student loans have taken our young people hostage. And it’s time we freed them of this burden.
Yesterday, as the GOP was filibustering the dreams of millions of American students, Bellows was releasing her first TV ad (up top). It's a nod to Paul Wellstone's famous Fast Paul ad and offers a very personal introduction to Bellows, her family and her roots. Maine isn't the most expensive media market in the country. A moderate amount of money goes a long way. Collins has already raised $3,882,472, while Shenna has raised $1,024,500. She's going to need people like us to keep it up between now and November. Would you like to see another Elizabeth Warren in the Senate? This is what it costs to run this ad in various Maine TV markets on some specific shows. How about picking one or more and making a contribution here?
• Bangor- WLBZ- NBC News Center $135• Bangor- WLBZ- Dr. Phil $45• Portland- WCSH- Today Show $50• Portland- WMTW- Ellen $85• Portland- WCSH- Bill Green's Maine $220• Portland- WMTW- Jeopardy $60• Presque Isle- WAGM- CBS News Sunday Morning $80
And Warren and the Democrats are not giving up. Bellows can be very helpful to them in passing the bill next year or the year after, whenever they have enough Democrats in the Senate to get it through. "At this point," warned Warren after the filibuster, "most Republicans want us to quiet down and fade away. They don't want us to point out that this morning, most Republicans said it was more important to protect the tax loopholes for billionaires than to cut the rates on student loans. I think it is time to come back louder than ever. I think it is time to show up at campaign events and town halls and ask every single Republican who voted against this bill why protecting billionaires is more important than giving our kids a chance to pay off their loans. I think we need to ask, and ask again, and ask again… In Washington, I hear people say that 'Elections have consequences.' I'd like to shift that just a little bit and say 'Senate votes have consequences, too.' When Republicans vote to force students to keep paying high interest rates on students loans in order to plug the budget holes from tax breaks for billionaires, then it's time to hold those Republicans accountable. I don't plan to let this issue die. I plan to fight back. And I hope people all across this country will do exactly the same." Let's make sure Shenna Bellows is right there with her fighting that battle. If Dave Brat can win in VA-07, don't let any know-it-all pundit tell you what is and what isn't "possible."