Bring Jobs Home Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

Date: July 19, 2012
Location: Washington, DC

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there was a troubling report recently released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. It is entitled ``The Campus Debit Card Trap.'' The report from PIRG documents how colleges and universities across the country have signed deals with financial service companies to provide campus debit cards and prepaid credit cards to students.

Sometimes these debit cards are linked to a student checking account, and many times the school's name will appear on the card. In some cases, the student ID card is turned into a bank debit card. We are also seeing colleges and universities make deals in which banks issue prepaid debit cards to make financial aid disbursements to students.

When they are managed appropriately, debit and prepaid cards can be a good thing for students. It can give them an effective way to conduct transactions and receive their student aid payments. But, unfortunately, as the PIRG research found, some of these campus debit card arrangements raise some serious questions.

Why did the U.S. PIRG title its report, ``The Campus Debit Card Trap''? You guessed it. Many students are being charged unreasonable fees that are costing them millions of dollars. According to the U.S. PIRG report, 15 financial institutions have debit or prepaid card contracts with 878 campuses that serve more than 9 million students. It is a big business. Forty-two percent of all students nationwide go to school on these 878 campuses.

It is a lucrative business for financial institutions. There is a lot of money to be paid from fees on college debit cards, especially when they start charging fees on the billions of dollars disbursed each year in Federal student aid. So the Federal money is passing through these cards to the students. The financial institutions are making money in the process.

As the U.S. PIRG report shows, some of the fees being charged are clearly unreasonable. One of the most egregious fees is a per-transaction fee on students for using a PIN number on debit purchases instead of a signature. One of the largest campus debit card companies, Higher One, currently charges students 50 cents every time the student enters his PIN number at a checkout. PIN-based transactions are supposed to be more secure than signature transactions. But this deal actually penalizes the students for using PIN numbers which are supposed to be more secure.

Another unacceptable fee is the ATM balance inquiry fee that some banks charge. This penalizes students who check on their balances to make sure they do not overdraw their accounts or incur an overdraft fee. Why would you discourage a student from checking on their balance so they do not overdraw their account?

Some banks charge inactivity fees, when a student is charged $10 a month if they are not using the account after 6 months. In other words, if the student is not using the card, racking up fees by making purchases, the financial institution still charges $10 each month. So it is going to get the money either way.

Of course, there are mysterious fees such as Higher One's $50 lack of documentation fee. That is what they call it. They recently abandoned this. And not to mention the obscure and unreasonable overdraft fees that some institutions charge.

Not only do those fees eat away at the limited money these students have for books, food, and living expenses, but these fees also cut into taxpayer-subsidized student aid dollars.

Student aid should be used to aid students, period, not banks. We should not allow financial institutions to take a slice off a taxpayer-subsidized student aid disbursement through unreasonable fees. We should not have debit card deals between financial institutions and colleges that leave students holding the bag.

Colleges and universities should negotiate for the students, for the best deal for them; the lowest fees, the best consumer protection. We need these deals to be fully transparent. Students often think: Wait a minute. If the university is recommending this bank or this school ID or this debit card, then it must be approved by the school.

The terms of the deal ought to be clear to the student so they can make the right choice. In addition, if the school receives incentives or kickbacks for providing exclusive access to the students, there is an inherent conflict of interest that at least ought to be disclosed.

I wrote a letter, along with Senator Jack Reed and Congressman Peter Welch, calling on the 15 financial institutions mentioned in the PIRG report to immediately discontinue several of the worst fees that were highlighted and disclose their contracts with colleges and universities. I am pleased that some financial institutions are responding to this PIRG report, but more needs to be done.

Fortunately, there are colleges and universities out there that are ready to step up. Soon after the PIRG report came out, I met the with the president of a university in Illinois that uses prepaid Visa debit cards to disburse title IV student aid. Students at this school were being charged some of the fees that were mentioned in the PIRG report, such as the inactivity fee and a fee for checking on the balance on their account.

When I alerted the president of the university to these fees, he immediately responded and agreed that he thought that was unreasonable. He said he will work to promptly address this issue for the benefit of the students.

I hope other leaders of colleges and universities who try to convince students and their families that they are truly their friends will be their friends when it comes to these debit cards. In the days to come, I am going to work with the regulators at the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and with the higher education and financial communities to take the tricks and traps out of the campus debit card programs.

Let's give our college students who are already borrowing money, deep in debt, struggling to pay their bills a break. Let's not increase the debt they are going to carry out of school, trying to enter into the job market. I thank my colleagues who are already working with me on this. I urge others to join me.

VA CAREGIVER PROGRAM

Mr. President, since last July, the Veterans' Administration's Caregivers Program has been providing the families of severely disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with the support they deserve to care for their loved ones. I would like to mark the 1-year anniversary of this program by taking a few minutes to talk about its impact on families across America.

The Caregivers Program was originally conceived by then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. She came up with this notion to help those caregivers who were staying at home with disabled veterans, many of them parents and spouses, who make considerable sacrifices to make sure their disabled vet has the very best love and care in the place they want to be, right in their home.

Sometimes it is a hardship, not just the medical requirements but sometimes the financial requirements. So we passed the Caregivers Program, originally conceived by Senator Clinton. With the assistance of Senator Akaka, it became the law of the land. Here is what it said: For the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who came home with a disability and needed a caregiver to make sure they could go about their daily routine, we would say first to the caregiver, we are going to provide you with the medical training you need so you can take care of this vet in terms of their personal needs.

Secondly, we will provide you with a respite. If you need time off to go spend a few days somewhere to rest and relax and recharge your batteries, we will find a nurse or someone to come in and take care of that vet so you can have a little time to yourself.

Third, if there is a final need, an economic hardship, we pay up to $3,000 a month--not a huge sum of money--but up to $3,000 a month to the caregivers who are willing to help. I just had a group of wounded warriors in my office the other day. They talked about what this meant to some of these families. It meant whether their homes would be foreclosed upon. So when you think about it, the alternative is institutional care for these veterans, not nearly the level we want, the kind of care we would want to have. Instead, they are home with someone they love at a fraction of the cost of institutional care. We are just giving a helping hand to the caregivers.

So let me show a couple of photographs because these are some stories that I think are important for everyone to know about. This is a family I know pretty well. They are from North Carolina. Eric Edmundson served in the U.S. Army. Eric is shown with his wife Stephanie, his daughter Gracie, 7 years old, and his baby son Hunter, who is almost 2 years old. Eric served in the Army and was injured, and during the course of surgery, there were complications. He ended up a quadriplegic, unable to speak. They almost gave up on him. They talked to his father about sending him, at the age of about 24, into a nursing home. His dad blew his stack and said: You are not going to do that to my boy. He got on the Internet and started asking questions and ended up with Eric being admitted to the Rehab Institute in Chicago. That is where I met them, this North Carolina family. His dad said: My son will get the best care no matter what. Because he worked so hard and pushed so hard, Eric got the care he needed.

I can remember visiting him in his hospital room and saying that I want to come back from time to time to see how he is doing in Chicago. I came back a few weeks later, and his mom said Eric had a gift for me.

I said: For me, a gift? What is it?

She said: I will show you.

His mom and dad walked to the side of his wheelchair, lifted him up, and he took three steps. There wasn't a dry eye in that room. There were tears of joy all the way around. This man who had been given up on was taking steps. His mom and dad said: He is supposed to check out on Memorial Day, and he will walk out of the front door of this hospital in his full dress uniform. Can you be there?

I said I wouldn't be anywhere else. So I came, as did the mayor of Chicago and a lot of press, and watched Eric walk out of that hospital. It was one of the happiest days I can ever remember. His wife Stephanie was waiting with his daughter Gracie, and they moved back to North Carolina. His mom and dad gave up their business and devoted their lives to him. They are living with this family to make sure Eric has a life. They have a brandnew baby boy.

I have visited at their home. It is one of those stories where local vets and good people said: We will build you a home at no expense so you can get around in your wheelchair.

It is a terrific, wonderful story of a brave family who worked hard to give Eric a life, and all the neighbors and friends have helped sustain him.

I can tell you that Eric's story went a chapter further. His dad came to me and said: Have you ever heard of the caregivers bill Hillary Clinton had introduced?

I said no.

He said: She is leaving the Senate to be Secretary of State, so would you take a look at it?

I said I would. As a result of that, I worked with Senators Akaka and Inouye and the President, who signed it into law. As a result, families just like the Edmundsons will get the helping hand they need, like Eric got the kind of care he needed. The Iraq war is over, but his struggle will continue. We want to make sure he has the loving care he needs throughout his life.

Let me tell you about another family from Clinton, IL. I don't have a photo. It is Nathan Florey and his caregiver mother Deanna.

Nathan was a military police officer in Iraq, and he suffered an aneurysm while on duty in 2008. His recovery took 15 months. At one point it was suggested that Nathan should go to a group home. His mother refused to allow that to happen and said: No, send him home with me. She has taken care of him ever since. They were told that Nathan might never wake up, regain consciousness, but he exceeded everyone's expectations. He has received an associate's degree and is working on a bachelor's degree. Deanna says the caregiver program gives her a support system so that she doesn't feel like she is caring for Nathan alone.

This is a common refrain. Another caregiver named Beth, whom I spoke with this spring in downstate Illinois near Marion, pointed out that this support from the caregivers program gave her the flexibility to be able to care for her husband full time.

These are the kinds of families we want to help with this program. When we started, we thought a few thousand Iraq and Afghanistan families might qualify. As it turns out, these signature wounds that lead to this type of care are more prevalent than we thought and families' hearts are even bigger than we imagined. So far, 5,153 families have qualified for the caregivers program. Think about that. They have taken the training to provide quality care for their loved ones in the comfort of their own homes. This includes Deanna and Beth and 129 other families in my State, and I will bet there are some families in Minnesota.

This is an interesting and amazing story as well. This is a family from Oak Lawn, IL. This is Yuriy and Aimee Zmysly in the center of the photo. I was connected with the Zmyslys several years ago after I read about them in a Chicago newspaper. They became strong advocates for the caregivers program, spreading the word about it in Illinois, including at this event in Chicago last fall.

Yuriy was a marine serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2006, he came back to the United States for surgery at the military hospital, where he suffered complications from a burst appendix and was left with a severe brain injury. When she got the news, Aimee drove to the hospital and put her whole heart and life into caring for Yuriy. At the time, they weren't married, but Aimee said she made her commitment to him before this. They got married after he suffered this grievous injury. The Zmyslys qualified for the caregiver program last summer. As Aimee told the Sun Times in an update to their story, ``It's good to be recognized for what I've been doing and other people have been doing for years.''

Let me close with a brief update on Eric Edmundson, whom I started talking about. His father Ed tells me in a recent note that enrollment in the program went smoothly--the caregivers program. His wife Beth, who gave up her health insurance when she left her job to care for her son, now has her health insurance back thanks to the program. And Eric is doing great as well. He is back hunting and fishing. He can literally go hunting. He loves it so much. And he can also fish with his dad. He recently completed a multistate hunting trip sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Project. Eric also received the 2011 Pathfinder Award from Safari Club International in recognition of the way he has explored life undeterred by his injuries. As part of the award, he is going to head to South Africa in September to hunt big game. Who would have imagined that this young man, abandoned by our system, which said he would virtually spend the rest of his life alone in a nursing home, now has such a full life?

His father said in his note to me, ``Eric works through his challenges. He will not be disabled by them--always a warrior.''

I am pleased that the caregivers program has been able to help veterans in America--over 5,000 in Illinois, North Carolina, and everywhere. I encourage anybody who is following this statement on the floor of the Senate and knows of an Iraq or Afghanistan veteran who may qualify for the caregivers program to get more information at www.caregiver.va.gov.

CROP INSURANCE

Mr. President, last Sunday I went to Gardner Township outside of Springfield and met with a group of farmers to talk about the drought. We were across the street from a cornfield, and I have seen these since I was a little kid. If you looked at it driving by, you would think it was just another cornfield. The farmers took me into the cornfield, and we started looking at the corn and stalks. It is a disaster.

The drought has really taken its toll. As of last week, my entire State is suffering through at least a moderate drought, and 33 counties have been declared to be in severe drought. They have joined 1,000 other counties in 26 States that have already been declared disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some people think it is the worst drought we have had in 25 years. I am afraid they could be right. Nobody knows better than our farmers, which I learned when I made this visit. Some of this corn crop is going to be flatout lost. They chop it off at ground level and let it dry out and try to feed it to the livestock. But it will get worse if the drought continues. We need rain and need it desperately--not just a little rain but a level of consistent, meaningful accumulation.

The primary tool available to producers to help them get through this is crop insurance. Taxpayers help the Crop Insurance Program by subsidizing about 62 percent of the premiums, but it is a better deal than disaster payments, which are unfortunately massive in amount and don't reward good conduct. The basic Crop Insurance Program rewards those producers who are trying to protect themselves from these outcomes.

I talked to Secretary Vilsack with the Department of Agriculture last week. I know they are watching this disastrous situation across Illinois and the Nation as, unfortunately, it increases. The benefits that are available to local farmers are low-interest loans they can take out to get through this while waiting for the crop insurance payout. These farmers don't want a handout, but they have no choice. They have to get through this year so they can get into next year. The loans are not going to solve the problem, but they will help address them.

There is a political thing we can do. I wish we would pass a bill to create rain, but we obviously can't. We did pass a farm bill. Sixty-four Senators, Democrats and Republicans, voted for the farm bill. Senator Stabenow of Michigan and Senator Roberts of Kansas, a Democrat and a Republican, worked through a bipartisan bill when most people said they didn't have a chance. They did it and did a great job. They sent it to the House. The House, unfortunately, has not been able to move the farm bill.

This is like the story we heard on the Transportation bill. Here is a bill that is critically important for farmers, many of whom are facing disasters like the drought now, and the House needs to get moving. I hate to put pressure on the House, but that is what Senators do to House Members, and they try to do the same to us. If they fail to pass a farm bill, it will reduce the opportunities to help our farmers through this drought.

So I am encouraging all Members of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, to at least vote on the Senate bipartisan bill if you can't come up with a bill. It will give us a chance to help producers in rural America facing a natural disaster. As they face these natural disasters, we should not create political disasters to make it worse.

I call on the House of Representatives, before you leave for the August recess, pass a farm bill, get to conference, and get the job done.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


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