While students nationwide are panicking due to the Senate’s inaction to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) is remaining optimistic about the future.
As one of the youngest members in the House of Representatives, it wasn’t too long ago that the congressman was a college student himself at Illinois State University where he, too, procured student loans. In fact, he said, it is his youth that has allowed him to truly represent and gain the trust of Millennials as well as his peers, especially when it comes to the student debt crisis.
“The first thing we have to do, even beyond the rates, is we have to get back to a healthy economy,” Kinzinger said during an interview with Now This News. “An economy that’s hiring young people, giving them the jobs they want.”
Instead of just blaming the Senate for failing to prevent student loan interest rates from increasing to 6.8 percent, he praised the House for passing a plan which would have kept rates low and in tune with market rates.
However, Kinzinger quickly put Congress aside, noting that they aren’t the only ones who should take the fall for the student debt crisis. He called out educational institutions, questioning universities on just how their money is spent.
“You know, colleges have really got to understand that they have a role to play,” he said. “I mean, you hear university presidents talk all the time about student loan debt and it’s out of control, but they have a role to play in that.”
Despite Kinzinger’s less-than-optimistic view on universities’ roles in making college more affordable, he told Now This News that positivity is key, especially for the GOP and the economy.
“I think painting our vision for the future and where we really want to go is drastically important,” Kinzinger said. “That’s an area where if I could do anything for our party in changing its message, it’s talk about where you want to go and do it in an optimistic way. Do it with a smile.”
According to Kinzinger, it was optimism that won President Barack Obama his first presidential election and re-election four years later. Even though the economy was in shambles, he said Obama spoke in such a positive way that voters flocked to the Left.
Kinzinger, who called the GOP the party of freedom and opportunity, encouraged Republicans to forgo telling Americans what they might already know and instead opt for a more positive and opportunistic message.
“It’s one thing to get on the news and scream and yell, but guess what—Americans already know things are bad, right?” he said.
Watch Rep. Kinzinger’s interview here:
