After spending time with the former President, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter faced her Republican challenger, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks in a debate on WXXI. The two took questions from panelists, community members and even rapid fire questions.

One question a community member asked the two candidates was what role the government should play in helping reduce student loan debt. Brooks says there should be a balance between affordability and accessibility to loans, while Slaughter touched upon the programs the government has already put in place.

“It is a big problem, I think there needs to be a balance and I think there needs to be bipartisan will in Congress to make sure that number one our students of all income levels have access to loans if they need them, and even, more importantly our students have access to affordable education and opportunities to go to college if they so chose,” said Brooks, (R).

“In the term previous to this one, we made serious changes and good changes to what we do about college loans. For one thing, it was decided we'd cut out the middle man. Banks had always administered the loans using the federal government to lend directly to the student and if there was a default or the student failed to meet their obligations the federal government took the hit, not the bank. So it was decided to cut out the middle man and loan directly from the federal government,” said Slaughter, (D).

The two women are fighting to be elected to the newly drawn 25th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.