I write to you as a longtime Madison County resident, raising a family in the area I adore with the people I love. Madison County has so much heart. But Madison County is no stranger to hardship. The growth of our rural community, towns, and cities is clearly not enhanced in the midst of a true recession. Jobs — lost, gained, lost again. It leaves us to experience undue stress, anxiety, disappointment, personal loss and social embarrassment.

Shuffled behind the high visibility of current congressional discussions about health care reform, there is other proposed legislation that, if passed by the U.S. Senate (already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives), the government will absorb the student loan industry and serve as the banker to operate the entire student loan program out of the U.S. Department of Education. If this legislation is approved by the Senate and signed, Madison County is captured in the job loss net once again.

Specifically, I speak of the extended families of 309 Madison County residents who are employed at Sallie Mae in Fishers. We make our lives in Anderson, Elwood, Summitville, Frankton, Alexandria, Lapel and Pendleton. In Delaware County, there are 456 jobs at risk. And the Sallie Mae employee count includes our other immediate neighbors of Henry, Grant, Hamilton, and Hancock counties.

We are the representation of a broad-based middle class.

Sallie Mae offers well-paying jobs that culminate in the delivery of funding and services to make it possible for students to participate in higher learning opportunities. From an employee perspective after 14 years with Sallie Mae, I have enjoyed many benefits and seen many actions by Sallie Mae that make me proud. Individually, I earned a master of science degree while employed, only through the support of Sallie Mae staff and management and a tuition reimbursement program. It is easy to take pride in Sallie Mae as a responsible citizen of central Indiana when you consider our involvement in Habitat for Humanity, United Way, funding local scholarships to prospective college students, and fulfilling responses to food pantry needs in staggering numbers.

Sallie Mae and more than 30 other companies and organizations are supporting a proposal that lets free market lending institutions continue to participate in student lending.

Thousands of schools have stepped up to support this proposal. The state of Indiana, and specifically central Indiana, stands to lose more jobs than any other state depending on the outcome of the Senate’s vote. I urge our Madison County communities’ elected officials, leaders and citizens to communicate to Sen. Evan Bayh and Sen. Richard Lugar that they must protect Indiana jobs and stop the government from taking over an industry that works for millions of college students and their families. Madison County has a stake in this issue.