As Congress opens debate over an increase in student loan interest rates, House Speaker John Boehner is demanding President Obama “reimburse the treasury” for trips this week to three college campuses during which the president denounced Republicans for failing to act on the issue.
Using the harshest language he has ever uttered against the president, Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday called Obama’s midweek trips to schools in the battleground states of Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina “pathetic” political stunts beneath the dignity of the White House.
“Our country’s facing some major economic and fiscal challenges,” Boehner said. “And, yet, here’s the president wasting time on a fake fight to try to gain his own re-election.”
Obama used the trips, including an appearance on a late-night talk show, to publicly urge Congress to pass legislation that would prevent interest rates on Stafford Loans from doubling in July.
But House Republicans say they were already working on legislation. They introduced a bill this week that would freeze the interest rate at 3.4 percent for a year. Republicans proposed making up for money lost to the lower rate with money from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which is part of Obama’s 2010 health care reforms.
Republicans labeled the health care account a “slush fund,” while Democrats argued it was needed to promote women’s health, prevent disease and guard against public health emergencies.
But Republicans did not take up the student loan bill until Obama began talking about it recently to young voters in key battleground states.
Democrats in charge of the Senate proposed their own legislation, which also would freeze the 3.4 percent interest rate. But to replace the lost revenue, Democrats want to raise the payroll taxes on small-business owners. Democrats said they are only closing a tax loophole, but Republicans claim the move would undermine the economic recovery.
The fight will unfold in earnest on the House floor Friday, when both sides debate the issue before voting on the Republican plan.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that Democrats would not support the Republican measure.
“They consider it a slush fund to pay for women’s health, we consider it an absolute necessity, and that’s the difference here,” Pelosi said.
What’s at stake politically in this fight is the support of women and young voters, two voting blocs both parties are courting in a crucial election year.
That becomes trickier for Republicans, who must defend plans to siphon money out of a women’s health fund, helping to fuel Democratic claims that the GOP is waging a war against women.
Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to shift negative attention to Obama’s travel schedule, which closely resembled campaign rallies targeting young voters and the middle-class families whose children will be repaying those loans, even though the White House insists the president was promoting public policy.
The Republican National Committee earlier this week filed a complaint over Obama’s travel, accusing the White House of fraud.
“Because this behavior shows no sign of changing,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote, “action must be taken with haste to protect the taxpayers who are being cheated by their government.”
