I've done coverage on the race but I wanted to take a moment and remind everyone why Senator Kay Hagan (D. NC) has to stay in the U.S. Senate. I think this is a very good reason:
http://www.fayobserver.com/...
A bill that would streamline requirements for veterans to get help with their student loans was presented to Congress on Thursday.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., along with U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced the Servicemember Higher Education Protection Act on Thursday afternoon on Capitol Hill, according to Hagan's office.
The bill is aimed at creating better access to benefits that many veterans and service members already have, but few are aware of.
Hagan said it was important for troops and veterans to receive benefits - especially those they already are supposed to have.
"We must do everything we can to support them," she said.
Hagan said she's heard from veterans who are enrolled in college but were unaware of benefits owed to them.
She said she wants to prevent those veterans from losing thousands of dollars in missed opportunities while ensuring that federal agencies work with the best interest of veterans in mind.
The average student loan debt for active-duty troops graduating from college was $25,566 in 2008, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
But many of those troops aren't receiving benefits that are legally guaranteed to them, according to Hagan.
She cites the settlement reached last month between the Justice Department and lender Sallie Mae.
Sallie Mae agreed to the $97 million settlement after the lender was found to have violated the Servicemember Civil Relief Act, which allows active-duty troops to receive a 6 percent interest rate cap on their student loans. - Fay Observer, 6/5/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.newsobserver.com/...
One provision would let military spouses defer student loan payments for six months after a mandatory move. Hagan said the wife of one soldier transferred to Fort Bragg was unable to find a job and the couple had to take out a three-month Army relief loan to pay her student loans.
Other parts of the bill simplify provisions or help military student loan borrowers receive benefits they are due but often don’t receive, she said.
For example, it would require the Department of Education to put information about military borrowers into a database to guarantee that they don’t pay interest on student loans while they’re deployed in hostile territory. That benefit has been law since 2008, but has been used in only a small percentage of cases because people don’t know about it, Hagan said.
Another part of the bill would make sure that service members who receive a 100 percent disability rating automatically would have their student loans discharged.
“This is a protection that is already promised, but it’s not always delivered,” Hagan said. The provision would end the need for veterans to handle paperwork and wait for the loans to be discharged.
The bill also would reduce the amount of forms that military borrowers have to handle to receive a 6 percent interest rate cap on their student loans while they are on active duty. It also would extend the cap for one year after leaving the military. - News Observer, 6/5/14
If you would like more information, please contact Senator Hagan's office:
(202) 224-6342
http://www.hagan.senate.gov/...
Military issues could play a role in Hagan's race against Thom Tillis (R. NC):
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/...
There’s word from the General Assembly that the consumer finance industry is unhappy with state law designed to help protect active members of the military from exploitation. In case you’ve forgotten, the consumer finance industry runs more than 400 storefront shops throughout North Carolina that make loans featuring high interest rates and fees. The loans are often packed with junk insurance products and customers are also routinely “flipped” from one loan to another.
The provision at issue (G.S. 53-180.1) was enacted last year as part of legislation that gave the industry the authority to significantly raise the amounts it charges for loans. While failing to protect the rest of us from these predatory lending practices, the General Assembly was shamed into including some modest protections for military service members, whose paychecks are often targeted by the industry. The provision requires lenders to make sure that they do not extend loans to lower ranking enlisted personnel without at least notifying their commanding officers. It also prevents lenders from trying to collect on loans via phone or email from service members or their spouses while the service member is deployed to a dangerous area.
Now, less than a year after the protections were enacted, it appears that at least some lenders want the law (or its enforcement) weakened. For some time, it has been rumored that industry lobbyists have been working on such an effort and recently, insiders report, an industry representative confirmed the rumor.
In addition to raising the real prospect that junior service members could be exploited before heading off to Afghanistan or some other dangerous venue, such a potential change also raises important political issues in the Senate race between Senator Kay Hagan and House Speaker Thom Tillis. In recent weeks Tillis has gone out of his way to portray himself as even more military-friendly than Hagan – a senator who has made working to help North Carolina military personnel perhaps her most visible cause for the past five years.
Any chance that Tillis will be able to successfully attack Hagan on military issues, however, would likely be in real jeopardy if he were to be seen allowing industry legislation weakening the military protections to proceed in the 2014 session while he remains in charge of the House. You can almost hear Hagan’s campaign staff licking their lips at the prospect of running ads attacking such a move. - Progressive Pulse, 6/6/14
Progressive Pulse also pointed this out about Tillis' getting major contributions from the consumer finance industry:
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/...
A revised campaign disclosure report filed by House Speaker Thom Tillis earlier this month reveals that he received more than $20,000 last October from a special-interest group whose priority legislation he pushed through the House despite stiff opposition from consumer advocates and the United States military.
The campaign contributions came from 28 donors and two political action committees associated with the consumer finance industry that specializes in small loans for buying automobiles, household goods and personal emergencies. The fees and interest rates that loan companies charge customers are regulated by the NC General Assembly.
The business affiliations of nine of the 28 donors were undisclosed in the original campaign report that Tillis filed for the six-month period covering July 1 to December 31, 2011. After receiving criticism for omitting information about dozens of donors, the Mecklenburg Republican submitted an amended report on February 8, 2012.
According to an analysis by the voting-rights group Democracy North Carolina, six lending industry donors were still unidentified or had incomplete information on Tillis’ new report – including Gail N. Blanton, a veteran finance company official who hosted a major fundraising event for Tillis last October in Greenville. - Progressive Pulse, 2/28/12
And the big guns have been coming into North Carolina to get the base riled up for Tillis:
http://www.newsobserver.com/...
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal touted House Speaker Thom Tillis, saying he’s done “an amazing, amazing job” leading a conservative push in the state legislature, comparing North Carolina’s turn to the one in his state.
“Electing (Tillis) to the U.S. Senate means we can retire Harry Reid as the majority leader,” Jindal said, evoking a name that received as much -- if not more -- vitriol than President Barack Obama.
In the evening, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took the stage at the dinner. He supported Rev. Mark Harris in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, but endorsed Tillis.
“The primary is over. The voters have spoken. You have a nominee,” he said.
North Carolina, he added, is “one of the most important states. You absolutely must retire Kay Hagan and elect Thom Tillis.” - News Observer, 6/7/14
Expect more of these clowns to be coming to North Carolina to campaign for Tillis, that's why we need to make sure Hagan is ready for November. Click here if you want to donate and get involved with her campaign:
http://www.kayhagan.com/