Washington’s Student-Loan Face-off
by The Editors
By Kenneth J. Cooper
For the time being, President Obama has routed the Republicans on the politically-potent issue of college student loans and preventing the interest on them from doubling.
After Obama took his case to college campuses in swing states, the Republican-controlled House backtracked and approved legislation to keep the interest rate on the federally-subsidized loans at 3.4 percent. Without the enactment of a new law, the rate will double to 6.8 percent on July 1. The Senate has yet to act on the issue.
Earlier in April, the same House had backed a budget plan that permits the automatic increase, which would cost the average student about $1,000 more in interest payments. It seems House Republicans were against keeping the rate low before they were for it. Or they started counting potential election losses in North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado, where Obama took his case to college students.
Republican lawmakers retreated but played their own political gambit. The $5.6 billion cost would be covered by diverting money from disease prevention programs authorized in the health care reform law. The White House immediately issued a veto threat.
Even the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, has come around and endorsed keeping the interest rate low. He had previously advised students to “shop around” for the best deal on loans.
That clueless comment shows how little the former
