A bipartisan group of senators reached agreement July 17 on a plan to restore below-market interest rates for newly issued, federally subsidized student loans. The plan was immediately hailed as breakthrough by President Obama, and the legislation is expected to move quickly through both chambers of Congress. But like most fast moving bipartisan plans in Washington, this deal is terrible public policy. The student loan program itself is fundamentally flawed. Congress should scrap it and start over.

The same day that United States Senators announced their bipartisan deal on subsidized loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Board issued a report estimating that federal student loan debt passed $1 trillion. Total debt, including student loans from federal and private sources, passed the $1 trillion mark in 2011 and is now more than $1.2 trillion. Americans owe more in student loan debt than in credit card debt. And today’s average college graduate enters the labor market more than $27,000 in the red.