Phil Bredesen proposes overhaul of federal student loan system

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

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Tennessee Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen proposed an overhaul of the federal student loan system Monday, pledging if elected to push a wide range of changes when the next Congress considers reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Bredesen, a former two-term Tennessee governor, made the policy pitch on rising student debt while speaking before the Rotary Club of Nashville at the Wildhorse Saloon.

Calling the current model overly complex and burdensome, Bredesen said he wants to streamline federal student loans into one new comprehensive program. He also pitched "one federal repayment plan" over 30 years that would be an obligation similar to a mortgage or car note.

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"We've got a significant issue with student loans," Bredesen said, pointing to more than 44 million student loan borrowers and 8.5 million students who were in default of their debt payments as of 2017. "We have an opportunity to fix this."

Bredesen said he wants a new fixed interest rate that is lower than the current model for student loans and enabling students to borrow up to one-third of the cost of the school they would be attending.

He also said student loans should no longer be "means-tested," meaning he wants them available to all students regardless of income.

Bredesen was interviewed by NewsChannel5 commentator Pat Nolan at the Rotary luncheon about a number of hot-button topics in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race, including immigration; education; the Senate's consideration of President Donald Trump's U.S. Supreme Court, nominee Brett Kavanaugh; Medicaid expansion; and Trump's recent tax cuts.

According to the Rotary, Republican candidate U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, was invited to address the group as well but could not attend Monday because of her schedule. The group hopes to host Blackburn at a future meeting.

Blackburn was in Knox County on Monday where she met with a Knox County Republican women's club.

In a statement, Blackburn campaign spokeswoman Abbi Sigler said Blackburn believes student loans "should be turned back to community banks."

"Local bankers and families will handle this better than the federal government," she said. "Phil Bredesen's ‘proposal’ does not address the real issue: cost."

Sigler also pointed to rising tuition at the University of Tennessee that coincided with Bredesen's eight years as governor. "This ‘proposal’ is phony just like Phil Bredesen’s entire campaign," she said.

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Bredesen: Eliminating ICE a 'really stupid idea'

Discussing immigrant children eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — an Obama-era federal program the Trump administration has not renewed — Bredesen called it a "moral obligation" to help these people. He said he supports the DACA issue be taken up via stand-alone legislation.

The program provides a temporary legal status for those who entered the country illegally as children.

Bredesen also criticized the recent separation of immigrant children from parents who were put into the criminal justice system as "child abuse." But he pushed back at Democrats, including some in the Senate, who have demanded that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement be abolished as a result.

"I think that's a really stupid idea. We obviously need to control our borders," Bredesen said. "It's a matter of national security. We are entitled to control our borders and have an agency that's in power to do that."

He went on to say that how officials act within the agency is the responsibility of the federal government, but added, "Eliminating the agency is more political theater and grandstanding than it is having a solution to the problem."

Reach Joey Garrison at jgarrison@tennessean.com or 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.