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Young Invincibles’ Statement on the President’s FY 2015 Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 4, 2014

Contact: Colin Seeberger, Colin.Seeberger@younginvincibles.org, 202.734.6536

Young Invincibles’ Statement on the President’s Budget

[WASHINGTON]—The White House released the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget this morning, which included many proposals that would affect young adults ranging from students loans, to apprenticeships, to health care.

Rory O’Sullivan, Policy and Research Director at Young Invincibles, issued the following statement on its provisions:

“This budget is a step forward for young adults, beyond what President Obama has proposed in the past. We look forward to working with him to take the necessary action to protect the first generation in American history at risk of being worse off than their parents.”

“We applaud the White House for including a number of provisions that will assist young adults in the job market. This includes $2.5 billion to expand summer and year-round job opportunities, as well as $500 million to double apprenticeships across the country in the next five years. We also support the budget’s increase of AmeriCorps positions to 114,000, a record number. Finally, Young Invincibles applauds the much-needed expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to assist low-income young adults and their families.

“We support expanding access to Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and simplifying the student loan repayment system. Both are steps in the right direction, though we continue to believe that too many hurdles exist to enroll and that PAYE should be the automatic option for borrowers. We are also concerned that the proposal would extend the repayment time of struggling high-debt borrowers before they receive forgiveness.

“Finally, the President proposes changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness that could lead to fewer young adults choosing public service careers. While we would like to better target Public Service Loan Forgiveness to help more undergraduates, the proposal eliminates benefits to high-debt graduate students and does nothing to help undergraduates benefit more fully from the program.”

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Young Invincibles is a national organization committed to amplifying the voices of young adults, ages 18 to 34, and expanding economic opportunity for our generation. Young Invincibles ensures that young adults are represented in today’s most pressing societal debates through cutting-edge policy research and analysis, and innovative campaigns designed to educate, inform and mobilize our generation to change the status quo.