--- title: Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans description: Massachusetts Democrat accuses GOP leader of asking students to “dream a little smaller” canonical: https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-16T18:42:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:11:10.050Z article:section: Politics og:title: Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans og:description: Massachusetts Democrat accuses GOP leader of asking students to “dream a little smaller” og:url: https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48c71546292a09b/69869bfd36176020a990d153/elizabeth-warren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3261 og:image:height: 1834 og:image:alt: Yellen Testifies on Monetary Policy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans twitter:description: Massachusetts Democrat accuses GOP leader of asking students to “dream a little smaller” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48c71546292a09b/69869bfd36176020a990d153/elizabeth-warren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=368cddfd-5e9a-46ff-a7e1-a59f9779f4a0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Jul 16, 2014 6:42 PM UTC  Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat of Massachusetts) listens to testimony from Janet L. Yellen on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress." on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 15, 2014. Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat of Massachusetts) listens to testimony from Janet L. Yellen on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress." on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 15, 2014. Ron Sachs—Corbis  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Jul 16, 2014 6:42 PM UTC Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly took Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to task Wednesday on her bill to lower interest rates for government student loans, which failed the Senate last month just two votes shy of breaking a Republican filibuster. “Last week Mitch McConnell was asked about the student loan bill,” Warren told an obviously friendly crowd of 1,000 young progressives gathered in Washington for the Center for American Progress’s Make Progress Summit. “Mitch McConnell actually suggested that the solution for college affordability is for young people to lower their expectations and become more cost conscious, because he said not everyone needs to go to Yale.” McConnell made the [remarks](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/14/mitch-mcconnell-student-debt%5Fn%5F5585521.html) in a town hall meeting last week, when explaining his support of proprietary education—or for-profit schools—as, he said, it increases competition with traditional colleges: --- > “” --- Warren then asked everyone in the room who had student loans and didn’t go to Yale to raise their hands—and the vast majority did. “His vision for America is that no one reaches higher than they can already afford,” Warren scoffed. “Mitch McConnell may think that the solution to the exploding student loan debt is to dream a little smaller. Well, he is wrong… We are going to build a better country than the one Mitch McConnell envisioned.” Request for comment from McConnell’s campaign wasn’t immediately answered. Warren then said the only way to fix the situation was to convince two senators to change their minds, an endeavor she asked the students in the room to help with. Because it’s either change their minds, or elect those that don’t “hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers,” she told the roaring crowd, who gave her an ovation. The Massachusetts Democrat’s remarks came two weeks after she campaigned for Alison Grimes, McConnell’s Democratic challenger in this November’s elections. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/"},"headline":"Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans","datePublished":"2014-07-16T18:42:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:11:10.050Z","description":"Massachusetts Democrat accuses GOP leader of asking students to “dream a little smaller”","url":"https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/","keywords":["Education","Mitch McConnell","Alison Lundergan Grimes","Student Loans","elizabeth warren"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48c71546292a09b/69869bfd36176020a990d153/elizabeth-warren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf48c71546292a09b/69869bfd36176020a990d153/elizabeth-warren.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yellen Testifies on Monetary Policy","caption":"Yellen Testifies on Monetary Policy","creditText":"Ron Sachs—Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2993443/elizabeth-warren-mitch-mcconnell-senate/","name":"Elizabeth Warren Slams Mitch McConnell on Student Loans"}}]}] ```