Eric Swalwell

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Just looking at the Twitter feed, we see @hi_moya saying: As graduation approaches, my student debt looms over me like an oncoming storm. It makes me hesitant to start grad school. I appreciate the gentleman from Colorado alluding to the budget that we, just moments ago on this House floor, voted on. We had two competing budgets when it came to many issues that are important to this country. But for my generation, looking at the generation of 18- to 35-year-olds, there is no issue that is more important and affects more people than student loan debt. The Republican budget would cut $220 billion in funds for college accessibility. It would cut Pell grants. It would cut subsidized student loan programs, and it cuts income-based repayment. These backward policies not only are hurting students, they are hurting the progress of our economy. They would make college more unaffordable for millions of prospective students. Nine million students today benefit from Pell grants. Two-thirds of African American students receive Pell grants, and half of Latino students receive Pell grants. Nine out of 10 Pell grant recipients are already taking out student loans. These students need more help from their government. I want to make it clear that no student that I have ever talked to, no student who has ever taken on the debt believes that this should just be a handout or a gift from the government. The position of the Future Forum, the position of the House Democratic Caucus is that if you believe in young people, if you take a chance on them, and if they are hard-working and qualified, they will take that investment, they will take that risk, and they will pay back their student loan debt. But we don't have to gouge them. The government doesn't have to make money on young people looking for a way up. The government doesn't have to make money on people who are looking for and seeking to seize upon opportunity. Speaking of young people, just joining us now here in the House Chamber is a first-term Member of Congress, someone who is also making a second Future Forum appearance and someone who cares deeply about what student loan debt means for the constituents in his Pennsylvania district. Mr. Chairman, I yield to Brendan Boyle.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. And is it just young people who are concerned about it? What do you hear from their parents as far as what the debt means if they have got a child who has just graduated college and is out there in the job market? Are you hearing from the parents as well?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I know there are a number of colleges in your district in Washington or around your district. And when you talk to young people today and they are thinking about going to college, how much are you hearing that the potential of debt is weighing on that decision?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address one of the greatest moral crises of our time: student loan debt on my generation. Because of student loan debt, an entire generation is in financial quicksand. Here are some startling facts of the student loan debt that our generation carries today. Approximately 40 million Americans had one or more student loans. The average amount owed on student loans is $33,000, and 70 percent of students graduating this year will be burdened with this debt. On average, it will take a student with this debt, graduating with a bachelor's degree, over 19 years to pay off their loans. This evening, the House Democratic Caucus' Future Forum will address this moral crisis, and we have got a number of Members who will work with us this evening to talk about their personal stories or stories that they are hearing in their district. We have also asked Americans across our country, including in my congressional district in the East Bay, to tweet or Facebook at us under #mystudentdebt or #futureforum; and we will answer some of their tweets this evening. First, I am going to yield to a colleague of mine who came in, in the 113th Congress, somebody who had student loan debt himself and represents a district in Washington (Mr. Kilmer).

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I am glad you mentioned the effect it would have on the economy. I just heard 2 minutes ago from Andreas Giraldo. He said with the $389 that is going to student loan debt, I could be buying a house. If you just imagine, you take 40 million people who have debt right now, and if we found a way for them to refinance it or reduce it and save them hundreds a month, they are not going to just sit on that money or put it under the mattress. They are going to put that money back into the economy.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I thank the gentleman from Washington, and I look forward to seeing your good work across Washington and in this Congress to address this moral crisis of our generation.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I mentioned that we are going to be having a conversation not just here on the House floor, but we have been talking to young Americans and people with student debt across America. So you can tweet on your phone at #mystudentdebt or on Facebook at #mystudentdebt or also tweet under #futureforum. I just want to read one of the first tweets that came in on this, and this came from Natalie Collier. She is from my hometown in Dublin, California. It is a place where, when I was growing up there, only less than 30 percent of the high school graduates were going on to 4-year universities. That number has more than doubled today. But young people like Natalie who have gone on to college have this to say. She is in college now and she said that she pays $300 each month to reduce her interest payments, and without such payments, she could save to buy a house. So we are asking on social media, first: What is your monthly payment for your student loan debt? For some student loans, you have to start paying them immediately while you are still in college, especially for many of the private ones. Others you have to pay them immediately upon graduation. The second question is: What would you do with that money if you weren't spending it on your student loan debt? How would you spend that money? With Natalie's $300, we can imagine if she didn't have to spend that on her student loan debt, that would be spent in the economy, hopefully allowing her to save to buy a home, pay her auto payment, pay her rent, hopefully near where she works, and she doesn't have to spend as much time on the road. So there is a ripple effect that goes out into the economy if we can lessen the burden that the student loan debt has on younger people in our country. This issue is one that is personal to me because I have student loan debt. My student loan story is that I was fortunate to go to college on an athletic scholarship. That was the only reason I was able to go to college. My parents were not able to afford to send me to college, and I knew that I had to work hard and play soccer well, and that would be my ticket and that I would be the first in my family to go to college. But like many young athletes, I got injured. I wanted to stay in college, so I had to take out student loans. About 90 percent of the student loans I took out were Federal student loans, but there had to be a bridge between the Federal student loans I had and the tuition that I owed. So we had to take out some higher interest private loans. Over $100,000 is what I have today, and I never complained about it. I knew it was an investment in my future. And I worked every job I could to try to make it work and to meet the tuition demands that I had every semester. But I have talked to young people from where I grew up and across our country, and I have realized that this isn't something that is just affecting me. I pay roughly $400 a month still on my student loan debt. It is something that is weighing like an anchor on young people across our country--41 million young people, approximately, with over $1 trillion in student debt. It weighs on every major decision they have to make in their formative years: when or whether to start a family, being able to buy their first home, leaving the job they have to take a risk and go out and start a business on their own. Of all of these decisions, the biggest factor for young people today is that student debt that they carry. And it is weighing them down. It is weighing an entire generation down, and it is something that this United States Congress must do. I am glad to see here for his second Future Forum appearance my colleague from Colorado, Congressman Jared Polis. And I would be interested, Congressman Polis, in what you think and what you are hearing from young people as far as how this weighs on decisions they have to make and what we can do here in the Congress.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I mean, this seems like a problem of, What do you do with the student today and the student tomorrow? And that revolves around what the interest rates are going to be. And you just alluded to, this isn't just about today and tomorrow. This is about the generation that took on the debt and is carrying it now and is in the workforce. We have just introduced in the Congress the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, introduced by our colleague from Connecticut, Joe Courtney, which kind of goes to this. And maybe you could talk a little bit about what can we do for students who already have this debt and they hear most of the focus being on the interest rate for the future. What can we try to help them as they try to navigate with this debt?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Now, we are talking about student loan debt as well as student loan interest rates, two separate issues, but both affecting essentially the same generation. We saw just this week our colleague, Joe Courtney, within the past week introduced his bill. I want to see if the gentleman has a position on this. It is the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. What it would do is it would allow eligible student loan borrowers to refinance their private and Federal loans. As the gentleman knows, if you have an auto loan or if you have a home loan and if you have a business loan, you can often, if qualified, refinance those loans as interest rates change and the markets change. Right now, you can't do that with student loans. How do you think this would change the debt load that young people are carrying today if they could take that student loan to the marketplace and find competitive refinancing rates.

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize Dr. Jay Davis, President of the Hertz Foundation, who will be retiring after decades of service to our country as a scientist and philanthropist. Jay resides in Livermore, California, in my congressional district. Dr. Davis graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor's and Master's degree in 1963 and 1964 respectively. In 1969, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with his PhD in physics. For three decades, Dr. Davis worked as a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), supporting the lab's fusion program through research in nuclear physics and material science. Dr. Davis also founded the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at LLNL. Following his service at LLNL, in 1998, Dr. Davis used his science background to support the Department of Defense as the Associate Director for Earth and Environmental Sciences. He worked to develop and enhance arms control treaties and twice served as an inspector for the United Nations Special Commission's mission to Iraq following the first Gulf War. During his time with the Department, he served as the founding Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Because of Dr. Davis' exceptional service to the nation, he was twice awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Department of Defense's highest civilian award. In 2009, following his exceptional career in public service, Dr. Davis was elected to serve as President of the Hertz Foundation. The Hertz Foundation provides talented PhD students in the Applied Sciences and Engineering the opportunity for financial and fellowship support to pursue their careers. On top of his work at the Hertz Foundation, Dr. Davis has also been a tireless advocate for benefits owed to retired lab employees. Dr. Davis' distinguished legacy of service to the Livermore community and the nation will continue through his scientific accomplishments and his philanthropic work at Hertz foundation. I wish Jim all the best in his retirement.

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Catherine Zinn, who tomorrow will be honored by Legal Momentum as a Woman of Achievement at its 10th Annual Women of Achievement Awards Dinner. Born in Berkeley, California, Catherine graduated from Hamilton College with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and public policy. She also was a terrific athlete there, receiving varsity letters in three sports. Since then she has established herself as a skilled business leader. For many years she has worked in client development and relations at DLA Piper, the world's largest law firm. In her role as Senior National Relationships Executive, she has had great success in bringing in new clients and ensuring current clients remain satisfied with the firm. Before DLA Piper, Catherine worked as National Director of Business Development and National Director of Class Action Settlement at JAMS, which provides arbitration and mediation services. Catherine has given back to her community as well, helping many organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. For example, she serves on the boards of Bay Area Cancer Connections, helping women with ovarian and breast cancer, and Tomorrow Youth Repertory, which provides youth theater education. Catherine also looks for ways to support women in business. She gives of herself to empower women and help them succeed. In fact, she participated in an event I held last year, Women's Business Empowerment Day, which was organized to help women succeed in the workforce. She gave insightful and tangible advice to attendees about how to negotiate for higher wages and career advancement. I want to thank her for her contributions. Catherine is well deserving of her recognition from Legal Momentum. I want to offer her my most heartfelt congratulations.

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor Alameda County Assistant District Attorney John Jay on his upcoming retirement. John has devoted his career to achieving justice for the residents of Alameda County and to keeping them safe. Following law school he served as a law clerk in the Alameda County Assistant District Attorney's Office and then, in December 1979, was appointed to be a deputy district attorney. Over his 35 year career, John has played a positive role in nearly every part of the District Attorney's Office. Early on he tackled some of the most serious felony cases in the county, proving to be an excellent trial attorney. John first took on a management position in 1998 when he became head of the Alameda Branch. Later he became a preliminary examination team leader in the Wiley Manuel Branch and the Assistant in Charge of the Fremont Branch, a position he holds today. John has been a terrific mentor to the many young prosecutors in the District Attorney's Office, including myself. He also taught outside the office as well, serving as a criminal law and evidence professor at Chabot College and Las Positas College. And, he worked with police officers to help them understand what a prosecutor looks for when presenting a case. John has well earned his retirement. He looks forward to spending time with his wife Corrine and enjoying his interests in carpentry, travel and the outdoors. I want to thank John for his years of dedicated service. I also want to wish him a very enjoyable retirement.

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dublin Police Chief Tom McCarthy as he leaves his current position for a new role as Executive Director of the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority (EBRCSA). For 32 years, Tom has worked diligently to keep the East Bay safe. He started with the Alameda County Sheriffs Office as Deputy Sheriff in 1983. Tom rose through the ranks and in 2009 was named Commander. In that job he worked to improve regional disaster response across the San Francisco Bay Area. For the last four and a half years, Tom has led the 50-person police department in Dublin. Beyond leading the effort to protect the residents of Dublin, he has been an active member of our community. Tom has spoken often at schools, community meetings, and other events across the city. He also has led discussions on critical public health and safety issues facing Dublin. Tom is committed to openness and engagement with residents. He has hosted a popular ``Coffee with the Chief'' program, which gives the people of Dublin a chance to meet and get to know Tom and other members of the Dublin police force. Tom is a well-respected leader in Dublin, and the people of Dublin are better off due to his service. Now Tom will be moving on to lead the EBRCSA, which is responsible for interoperable communications among dozens of agencies in the East Bay. I know he will continue to serve the people of the East Bay well in this new role, and I wish him all the best.

Mr. SWALWELL of California

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I also wonder, Mr. Speaker, what the gentleman from California thinks, as somebody who is serving in the Reserves right now and serving shoulder to shoulder with some young DREAMers, what would it do to the morale of the ranks if DREAMers who are putting themselves on the front lines, willing to go serve the country they call their own, the United States, in battle, if the House GOP had their way and those DREAMers were removed and deported from our country? What would that do to the morale of our troops?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. We haven't named that generation yet.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. It is a message of dysfunction. And I know Mr. Polis, just like Mr. Moulton, is also very much in touch with the doers and DREAMers who are defining the innovation economy, whether it is in the bay area or Colorado or Philadelphia or Boston and Cambridge. These folks, they see the shortest distance between two points as a straight line. They don't see it as a partisan line. They are problem solving by nature, and they can't understand why politics would get in the way of something so simple as funding the Department of Homeland Security. My own personal September 11 story, as Mr. Polis was saying, is: I was headed to Capitol Hill that morning. I was an intern for Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. I remember the gray suit that I was wearing was the one I wore every day at that time as I was wracking up my own student debt. As I got to the Capitol, I was turned around because the building had been evacuated. What I do remember, though, in addition to the color of the suit I wore and the phone call that I got from the staff assistant telling me to go home, I remember those Members of Congress singing ``God Bless America.'' I remember in the weeks and the months and the years afterwards the bipartisan 9/11 Commission Report. I remember the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and I felt so honored when I was elected to come to Congress to be asked to serve on the Committee on Homeland Security. I felt so honored in my second term to be asked to serve on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I cannot believe that just 14 years later, after all this bipartisanship and collaboration, while every other issue around us seems to be mired in gridlock, we have always agreed that we fund the Department of Homeland Security that was created out of September 11. Today, to think that we are so close to shutting down that Department, it really does defy the collaboration that came out of September 11. I would ask my colleague from Colorado, who is in the Future Forum, but he is one of the more senior Members of Congress in the Future Forum--I think he is now serving his fourth term--what do you think about the collaboration that we have seen around Homeland Security up until now?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. We are all in our thirties here.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Thank you, Mr. Polis. Something we haven't really talked too much about yet, and we have alluded to the fact that we are charging these transportation safety officers with detecting these hidden bombs that al Qaeda is determined to put on our airplanes, we are charging the Border Patrol agents to protect our border and make sure that is secure, but if this shutdown happens, they still have to do that job. The threats continue to elevate and escalate, but those employees will not get paid. I wonder what my colleague from Massachusetts, Mr. Moulton, someone who flies home, logs a lot of miles going back and forth between Washington and his district, flying into Logan, you look those transportation safety officers in the eye every week when you are coming to Washington and getting off the plane in Boston, what is the morale going to be among our TSA workforce, among our Border Patrol workforce if they still have to do the job as the threats escalate but we are not going to pay them?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. Actually, I have a question for the gentleman from Massachusetts. I know you are active on social media, I follow you, and I see you are very in touch with your constituents, particularly those on social media. I am wondering: What are you hearing from young people about the House GOP's inability to fund the Department of Homeland Security? What do young people think about the inability to separate an important immigration issue, as you talked about, and something so critical and as important as homeland security?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, and I invite to join the conversation a leader in our party, someone who serves on the House Rules Committee and also the House Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I would ask my colleague, knowing that, as we speak--and the gentleman from Pennsylvania pointed this out, Mr. Boyle--three Americans are in custody right now because of their intent and the steps they took to want to join ISIL. As we speak, our enemies are plotting against us. Although my colleagues across the aisle, the House Republican leadership, wish to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, our enemies do not intend on shutting down their efforts to attack America. What do you think, knowing that Colorado is home to a large airport, Denver International Airport, what is going to happen to the TSA officers who are charged with detecting these hidden bombs that al Qaeda has put out there that they would like to put on our airliners, detecting people who are trying to come back to the United States after fighting alongside with ISIL, what is this going to mean in places like Denver and across Colorado?

Mr. SWALWELL of California. While the workers are going to still have to do the job and not get paid, much of the Department will shut down, and an important part that will shut down will be Department of Homeland Security grants. I have had the opportunity in just the last few weeks to go and visit about a half dozen firehouses. I call them firehouse chats. I just pop in and meet with the brave men and women who are serving as firefighters in our community. If this shutdown happens, for example, we will see all of the assistance to firefighters' grants stopped. So the men and women who are responding to car accidents, building fires, God forbid, if a terrorist attack occurred, the people who are going to run into the burning buildings, who rely upon these grants to hire firefighters, to give them the equipment they need, that is all going to be stopped. So I am wondering if you have heard in your district or if you have talked to your law enforcement and public safety officials about the grants they depend upon and what it would mean if that funding just went cold.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right, Mr. Boyle. Mr. Moulton talked about this. We are taking an issue--immigration--that there are two sharply different sides on in this House, and that is fine. That debate needs to happen. Most people on our side, almost everyone on our side wants a pathway to citizenship. But that debate must happen. Because of that debate, what we are seeing is the one issue that we have always agreed on since the Department of Homeland Security was created is now as divisive as the immigration issue, meaning that the Republicans would like to politicize an issue that has always had bipartisan support and make that just as divisive as they have made the immigration issue. I think that is, frankly, unfortunate. Mr. Moulton, I would invite you to close here on just your overall perspective on why we should or should not tie immigration to Department of Homeland Security funding.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. I thank my colleagues from California, Colorado, and from Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I will close by saying, as Mr. Moulton alluded to, our principal responsibility can be found in, literally, the first sentence of the Constitution, which is: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union . . . to provide for the common defense of the United States. There is no agency that has a harder job or a job that is more important in protecting our homeland than the Department of Homeland Security. We should be here today, on our first evening of the Future Forum, talking about the rising amount of student debt that millennials carry. We should be here today talking about how hard it is to get a job if you are a young person and if you have just finished college. We should be here today talking about how hard it is to buy a home if you are carrying all of this student debt. We should be talking about the need for diversity and about having a pathway to citizenship for immigration. Instead, bizarrely, we are here talking about the real possibility that the Department of Homeland Security, created out of a bipartisan coalition in the early 2000s, could shut down and leave us more vulnerable. I hope that our better angels will guide us. I hope that the spirit that those House Members had when they stood on the steps of the Capitol after September 11 prevails, that we work more collaboratively, and that we remember, at the end of the day, we are charged with protecting the people. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SWALWELL of California. I thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to invite to join our conversation another freshman Member from Massachusetts, somebody who has also served our country very honorably in the Marines, Seth Moulton.