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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Senate turns to partisan fight over student loans - NorthJersey.com

Senate turns to partisan fight over student loans - NorthJersey.com:


Senate turns to partisan fight over student loans

by Nancy Kearney

Senate turns to partisan fight over student loans

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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WASHINGTON — The Senate is the newest arena in the election-year face-off over federal student loans, and both sides are starting out by pounding away at each other.
The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington.
AP PHOTO
The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington.
With Congress returning from a weeklong spring recess, the Senate plans to vote Tuesday on whether to start debating a Democratic plan to keep college loan interest rates for 7.4 million students from doubling on July 1. The $6 billion measure would be paid for by collecting more Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes from high-earning owners of some privately held corporations.
Republicans want a vote on their own bill, which like the Democrats' would freeze today's 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for one more year. It would be financed by eliminating a preventive health program established by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Each side scoffs that the other's proposal is unacceptable, and neither is expected to garner the votes 
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