Yesterday, New Jersey PIRG intern Sam Obergh spoke alongside Congressional leaders at a rally held in support of college affordability and the reconciliation bill. Here is his speech:
 
Good afternoon, my name is Samuel Obergh I’m a first generation college student from West New York, New Jersey. I am here because not too many individuals from my neighborhood have the privilege to attend college. I am currently attending Rutgers University, where I volunteer with New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. I’m able to attend Rutgers because I receive federal student aid. I receive the maximum Pell grant each year, and I have Stafford student loans. My goal is to become a lawyer in order to provide for my family while simultaneously being a productive member of our nation. In the meantime, I rely on every dollar of grant aid I receive.
 
That’s why it is so strange that banks and lenders are fighting to oppose this bill. Our federal student aid programs were set up to help people like myself gain access to college, and to build a better life. Instead, the money is flowing out of aid and into bank profit. The truth is that every dollar spent on banks lobbying to oppose this, every dollar spent on subsidizing banks to lend to students, every dollar spent on banks taking profit off this transaction-that’s a dollar that doesn’t go to a student in need. And that seems like a broken promise to our nation’s low-income youth. But the President, Speaker Pelosi, and Chairman Miller are restoring that promise. I thank the full House of Representatives for its vote to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act in September. I urge the chamber to vote in support of it again, backing the students of this great nation, and not banks.