With less than a week to go before federal student loan interest rates double, the House Republican Conference is pulling out all the stops to get Senate Democrats to finally take action and stop the rate increase.
The conference released its latest web video Monday, which contrasts the two chambers’ actions toward preventing the loan rate from doubling. In “Action, Not Political Games,” the narrator points out that the House GOP has already passed a bill – H.R. 1911 – that would tie federal student loan interest rates to the market, while the Senate has failed to put forth anything substantial.
“House Republicans are committed to stopping student loan rates on July 1 with action, not political games,” the narrator says.
Although the House’s bill was shot down in the Senate, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) believes it should have been a “slam-dunk” because the idea was taken from Obama’s own budget. Unsurprisingly, Obama instead decided to blast the House’s market-based student loan interest rate legislation in a live press conference earlier this month.
More than seven million students who rely on federal student loans will see their interest rates double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 if Congress doesn’t take any action.
The House Republican Conference will also release a magazine, “Student Loans: Action vs. Political Games” on Flipboard – the first time that any group on Capitol Hill has used this social media platform to distribute info.
Watch the House Republican Conference’s latest web video below.
