Senate Republicans block consideration of student loan bill
The Senate shot down a proposal Wednesday to allow Americans paying off student loans to refinance at a lower rate, bringing yet another Democratic priority to a grinding halt.
The bill, authored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., failed to clear a procedural hurdle that would have brought it up for consideration in the face of Republican opposition. It went down by a vote of 56 to 38. It would have affected an estimated 40 million people begin paying a lower interest rate on their loans, but never would have won GOP support because of the way it was paid for: a minimum tax of 30 percent on Americans earning between $1 and $2 million each year.
"Today is a really good day for billionaires. For the 40 million people dealing with student loan debt it wasn't such a good day," Warren said after the vote. "This raises the fundamental question, who does Washington work for? Does it work for those who can hire armies of lobbyists to make sure that every single loophole in the tax code is protected for them? Or does it work for young people who are trying to get started in life?"
But Republicans called the bill a "political stunt" that would do nothing to help future students.
"The Senate Democrats' bill really isn't about students at all, its really all about Senate Democrats, because Senate Democrats don't actually want a solution for their students, they want an issue to campaign on to save their own hides this November," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-republicans-block-consideration-of-student-loan-bill/
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