cannabisnews.com: House Bill Shifts Student Lending
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House Bill Shifts Student Lending
Posted by CN Staff on September 18, 2009 at 05:22:30 PT
By Sylvia A Smith, Washington Editor
Source: Journal Gazette
Washington, D.C. -- Students will turn to Uncle Sam, not private lenders, for loans to pay for their college educations, the House voted Thursday. The legislation is a blow to major banks and student loan giant Sallie Mae, which will be cut out of a large part of the $92 billion business.The bill also eases restrictions on students who are convicted of drug possession, erasing a 10-year-old provision authored by Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, that limits their access to federally guaranteed student loans.
But Souder said he has an agreement with the author of the bill to resurrect the restriction for people convicted of a felony – not a misdemeanor – possession charge. He said that would probably mean the restriction would apply to people convicted of possession of cocaine and meth but not marijuana.But he said the restriction against loans for students convicted of drug possession likely would not have withstood a court test.Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the Education Committee, said he has agreed to negotiate with Souder over the provision after the bill is acted on by the Senate.The legislation keeps the restrictions on loans to students with repeated convictions for selling drugs.The House voted 253-171 to change the lending policy, which has been in effect since the 1970s when the federal government began subsidizing private lenders that make college loans. Souder and Reps. Dan Burton, R-5th, and Mike Pence, R-6th, opposed the bill.Changing the policy so Washington is the direct lender would allow the government to shift tens of billions of dollars in savings to student aid over the next decade, the bill’s sponsors said.Republicans said the change would end up costing taxpayers more.Burton said it would kill jobs, including in Indiana, where Sallie Mae employs 2,300 people in Fishers and Muncie. Sallie Mae had warned that stripping it of the student loan business would result in a 30 percent cut in its workforce nationwide.“More than 30,000 private-sector jobs are directly affected by what you’re going to do today,” Burton told House members. “In the state of Indiana, it’s 2,356 jobs. … I don’t understand, at a time of economic difficulty, you want to do something that’s going to put more people out of work.”Souder, a member of the committee that wrote the bill, said the legislation “is the beginning of the creation of a national bank, and that there is no logical reason why every other lending category won’t become a national bank, too. That’s the big gulp we are hearing here and in many other areas, a massive government takeover in category after category.”But Democrats and President Obama said the legislation will protect student loans from upheaval in the financial markets and will free up money for other student aid.The change will save the government $80 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Most of the savings would be used for programs such as Pell grants, which help low-income students pay college tuition.“This plan would end the billions upon billions of dollars in unwarranted subsidies that we hand out to banks and financial institutions,” Obama said during a speech to students at the University of Maryland. “Instead, we’re going to use that money to guarantee access to low-cost loans, no matter what the economy looks like.”Source: Journal Gazette, The (IN)Author: Sylvia A Smith, Washington EditorPublished: September 18, 2009Copyright: 2009 The Journal GazetteContact: letters jg.netWebsite: http://www.journalgazette.netURL: http://drugsense.org/url/30xsoyeACannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 18, 2009 at 10:53:37 PT
FLA: Executive Director of NORML Visits UCF
By Brandon Ribak Published: Friday, September 18, 2009The executive director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws spoke to a crowd of UCF students in the Student Union Wednesday about current marijuana laws nationwide.
 Allen Pierre from NORML said that he believes the first legalization of marijuana in the United States will be as early as this November in Rhode Island. Not only will marijuana be legal in Rhode Island, Pierre predicted, but it will be available for purchase in specific stores. URL: http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/executive-director-of-norml-visits-ucf-1.1884374
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 18, 2009 at 09:53:29 PT
NH: Marijuana On Their Minds
City Council talks decriminalization, medicine.By Anika Clark, Sentinel StaffPublished: Friday, September 18, 2009Keene City Councilors traveled into hazy territory Thursday as they supported writing a resolution that would urge legislators to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. But they stopped short of doing the same for the idea of legalizing the drug for medical use.In the latter discussion, no one spoke against using marijuana as a pain reliever, as the debate instead revolved around one core question: Is it really the city government’s job to tackle the issue?URL: http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2009/09/18/news/local/free/id_372079.txt
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 18, 2009 at 07:26:32 PT
Ekim
Thank you. 8 years ago. It's been a long and bumpy road but I see the light at the end of the tunnel more and more these days.
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on September 18, 2009 at 07:02:11 PT
memory lane - back 8 yrs and much changed
http://cannabisnews.com/news/10/thread10910.shtml
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