Nelson praises transportation, student loan bill

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson says Congress's bipartisan passage of a legislative package containing measures extending the lower rate for federally-funded student loans, restructuring and allocating National Flood Insurance funding, and continuing funding for highway and transit programs, is a gift to all Nebraskans this summer.

Among its reforms, the legislation eliminates redundant transportation programs, reducing the overall number of programs by two-thirds, and streamlines environmental review requirements for road repairs.

The package also contains a one-year extension of the temporarily-lowered 3.4% interest rate on federal student loans (normally set at 6.8%), keeping higher education obtainable for more than 20,000 students in Nebraska utilizing Stafford Loans to help fund their undergraduate degrees.

© 2013 Rural Radio Network. All rights reserved. Republishing, rebroadcasting, rewriting, redistributing prohibited. Copyright Information