Saturday, June 14, 2014

Lieawatha's Student Loan Bill Fails in the Senate

A student loan bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was shot down in the Senate on Wednesday, after Republicans criticized it as a “political stunt” that’s taking time away from work on a critical bill on veterans healthcare.
In a procedural vote, the Senate voted 56-38 for Warren’s Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. That’s a majority, but under Senate rules, 60 votes were needed to end debate on the bill and set up a final vote.
Sixty votes were only possible with help from five Republicans, but those GOP votes weren’t there.
Democrats have spent the past week saying steps are needed to help save people from drowning in student loan debt. Warren’s bill would let people refinance their loans at lower interest rates, and President Barack Obama has called on Congress to pass it.
But Republicans have pointed to an analysis of the bill that says all it would do is save the average borrower $1 a day. Senate Education Committee ranking member Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted that this small adjustment to people’s loan payments would come with a huge price — a tax hike on high-income earners that would raise $72 billion over the next decade.
“College graduates don’t need a $1-a-day taxpayer subsidy to help pay off a $27,000 loan,” Alexander said Sunday. “They need a good job.”
Read the rest HERE.

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