Dive Summary:
- Only one legislative day remains until interest rates on millions of federal student loans double to 6.8% on July 1, something that should scare students and universities alike.
- A group of Democratic senators have proposed a bill that would extend lower rates by another year, giving lawmakers time to come up with a long-term fix, but even those senators doubt their measure will pass before the deadline.
- A bipartisan Senate bill mirroring a House of Representatives bill that passed in May would index the interest rates to the U.S. Treasury 10-year rate, adding 1.85% for subsidized and unsubsidized undergraduate Stafford loans, but that bill has been stalled by Democrats and the overall tone of lawmakers is now said to be pessimistic.
From the article:
... Lawmakers have known about the interest rate deadline for a year, after postponing the issue last summer. What has emerged instead is finger-pointing.
"As a result of their (Democratic) obstruction, interest rates on some new student loans will increase next week. The Republican House has already passed legislation and Senate Republicans, along with the President, are ready to pass bipartisan student loan reform that will ensure that student loan rates don't double on July 1st," a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement on Wednesday. ...