Student Loan Rate Deal Reached, Senate Leaders Say
Top leaders in the Senate say they have reached a deal on freezing student loan rates for another year, though they are still deciding the mechanics for how the proposal should make its way through the legislature in the final busy days before Congress leaves Washington for a week-long July 4 holiday.
The compromise has appeared a near inevitability for weeks—since Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney joined President Obama in calling for Congress to keep rates from doubling on July 1.
But Republicans and Democrats have been stuck on how to pay for the $6 billion cost—and over who was more to blame for the continued impasse. Without a resolution, Obama traveled the country to push for congressional action, even as Republicans bashed him for failing to help negotiate a deal.
“We basically have the student loan issue worked out,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday. “The next question is, what do we put it on to make sure we can complete it?”