Student Loan Bill Victim of Political Insanity [Left and Right]
I am finally ready to say it. There is a good chance we are doomed. There is a good chance that America may be falling off a cliff and we are all blindly arguing about the view on the way down. If today’s Senate failure to prevent an increase in student loan interest rates is an example of the lunacy coming out Washington, then yes, we are all doomed.
Let me play out a scenario for you.
During the debate on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Senate Democrats needed a way to make the costs of the bill seem somewhat doable so they used a shady Washington trick of taking money from some programs and plans to increase others to offset a bills costs. In this case they added 60 billion dollars from an increase in student loan interest rates.
Now no one wants to increase interest rates on people paying back student loans, the Democrats knew this, so they figured that when the increase in rates is set to kick in that Congress will act to keep them low and find the money elsewhere.
This is what is playing out in Congress right now. The House passed a bill to keep the interest rates where they are and today the Senate was supposed to begin debate on their own version. The Republicans blocked the debate based on the fact that Democrats want to pay for the interest rate fix by increasing taxes on the rich to pay for it. The Republicans want to take the money out of the part of Obamacare that the money went to.
This is again why we may just be doomed. Congress, who have not passed a budget since 2009 and have just passed individual spending bills which have added up to a trillion+ dollars a year in new borrowing, keep wanting to pass new spending bills and have repeatedly charged that the best idea was to raise taxes on the rich to do so. Republicans, who have never met a tax increase they like, veto it every time and tell the Democrats to get the money elsewhere.
Both parties deadlock on how to pay for it and at the 11th hour they pass the bill anyway and just decide to borrow the money needed to pay for it.
I am not the type who really cares where Congress gets the money to pay for vital programs. Tax increases, spending cuts, it is generally all the same. What I have a big problem with is that we refuse to tackle any of the large issues in this country because all we do is debate how to use every last penny on little nickel and dime projects.
This election a message should be sent to all the politicians in America. Start solving problems and stop playing games, if not we will all vote for Ron Paul 
Left and Right is a three times weekly column by Inquistr writer H. Scott English examining the hottest political issues of the day, the candidates running for public office and the 2012 elections.
Tags : interest rate doubles, left and right, partisan politics, republican fillibuster, Student Loans
Posted: May 8, 2012
![Rob Kardashian Weight Loss Fight A Fat Failure As His Belly Gets Bigger Than Kim’s [Video]](http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rob-kardashian-weight-loss-struggle-100x100.jpg)
![Howard Stern’s New Mansion Worth $52 Million [Report]](http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Howard-Stern-Mansion-100x100.jpg)
![Amanda Knox’s Ex Raffaele Sollecito ‘A Hero’ [Video]](http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/amanda-knox-ex-100x100.jpg)
May 8, 2012
Well, we won't have to worry about the national debt. With politicians using up all of the carbon fuels right now (drill baby drill) abolishing the EPA, and making educational qualification affordable, we won't have to worry about a country or a culture at the rate we are going…just drag out those student loan payments,
May 8, 2012
"Every nation has the government it deserves."–Joseph de Maistre.
May 8, 2012
How did we get in such a mess? Vote them out!
May 8, 2012
Politics as usual. A big reason for the political apathy in this country is shown right here. There is no one you want in office, so do you just vote for the least awful one?
May 8, 2012
I have a question? Students know when they take out the loans that they have to be paid back. I repaid mine in full and it took a while, but I was responsible for them and took care of them. Why do people think they can have a house , but not pay for it, take out student loan, not pay for them? They can always get get a deferral, or forbearance for many years if they don't have the money or are having problems. I have a friend who has been getting hers deferred for over 13 years. America is so far in debt and we are going down, down, down if people………enough said.
May 8, 2012
countries that get out of debt successfully have used a ration of 85% spending reductions and 15% tax increases. Are current tax rates are some of the highest in the world, but have so many loopholes that large businesses have carved out to protect themselves from newer and smaller companies. The only way it is going to work is to lower taxes and stop all the special deals.
I have student loans as well, but I choose to major in Computer Science not gender studies or one of one of the Liberal Art degrees that would qualify me to work as a barista at Starbucks.
May 8, 2012
I have an answer: This isn't about students not paying loans back. This is about the interest rate being double what was first agreed on when the loans were taken. Students are willing to responsibly repay the loan and agreed upon rate on interest. Sorry your friend has deferred repayment for 13 years, but that is not representative of most students.
May 8, 2012
I’ve got one..How about if the schools stopped increasing tuition & fees every single year; which forces students to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a minimal amount of education. Maybe then student loans will be paid back a little quicker! By the way, when most people stopped paying for their mortgages it was because their house was worth about half as much as they bought and paid for it after the market crashed. This is exactly what will happen when we allow schools to increase the cost of going to college every year, sooner or later people will realize that their student loans aren’t worth the money they are paying for them and they will stop too.
May 9, 2012
'Practical degrees' are only good if the market isn't flooded with them. You need those people who study liberal arts that you so readily look down on. Otherwise, all those people compete for you job. And btw, some of those liberal arts majors have a lower unemployment rate than your precious computer sciences.
May 9, 2012
And who gets to choose their replacements?
Oh, yeah, the same people who voted them IN in the first place.
The American voting public is like a gigantic Human Resources department. One bad hire is a mistake. Two bad hires is an off day. Bad hire after bad hire after bad hire after bad hire after bad hire? It's time to look at the people doing the hiring.
May 9, 2012
Or you accept the fact that leaders sometimes have to make hard, unpopular choices, and stop raking them over the proverbial coals when they do so.
What generally happens to politicians who tell people things they NEED to hear, rather than what they WANT to hear?
May 9, 2012
It's funny, when you look at every post that supports increase on loans, in this economy, the last names appear to be related……People are starting to get the picture, change is here and we a no longer asleep, for you parasites to continue and drain this great nation. Go back to your God forsaken country and vote to increase their tuition.
May 9, 2012
James Stephen Longo I can accept politicians making the hard choices. I won't accept them lying and making no decisions because they don't want to take a stand. I won't accept the political BS they call gridlock. I also don't need them telling me how to live my life or raise my kids. As long as I'm not breaking the law and/or hurting someone else, go get those that are.
May 9, 2012
Paula Qualls Gurley So in other words, you want them to make hard choices, but not if it negatively affects you.
I said before and I'll say it again: "Every nation has the government it deserves."