Once more, Congress proves incapable of doing simple things. The Senate failed to overcome another painless filibuster and could not take up a bill to keep student loan interest rates low. All the Democrats voted to proceed, all the Republicans except retiring Olympia Snowe voted to obstruct. Sen. Snowe voted ‘present,’ which is not something I’ve noticed her doing before. I think it just highlights how spineless she is.
It looks like the Republicans want to let the loans get more expensive and then try to blame the Democrats and the president. This means we have to make more of an effort to point out the truth, which is that the Republicans are protecting a tax loophole that they used to find objectionable and insisting that the price of keeping student loans affordable be taken out of preventative health care. It’s pure ideology. They want to dictate to the president and they don’t care how many people get hurt as a result.
