Somerville, MA – Consumer advocate and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren today released the following statement on the Senate's passage of an agreement to extend the current interest rate on Subsidized Stafford Loans:

"I'm glad the Senate voted today to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling. Students and their families shouldn't be asked to take on more debt to get an education. Unfortunately, in the last few months, the national Republicans have shown that they were willing to go to the mat to protect tax breaks for big oil companies and billionaires while at the same time, they dragged their feet until the eleventh hour when college students' futures are at stake. They held hostage the well-being of young people all across this country in order to keep their extremist pledges not to close tax loopholes. I think that's wrong."

Warren had previously called on Brown to stand with Massachusetts students and families to prevent the interest rate increase, yet Brown repeatedly sided with Republican leaders, voting twice to block legislation to extend the current rate.