Dear Commons Community,

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday declined to approve a bill that would have enabled millions of Americans with expensive student loans to refinance into cheaper debt.  The 56-38 vote on the refinancing proposal, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), failed to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Warren’s proposal, which mostly targeted student loans owned or guaranteed by the Department of Education, sought to fund the reduction in borrowers’ student loan payments by increasing taxes on wealthy households. As reported in The Huffington Post:

 
“With this vote we show the American people who we work for in the United States Senate: Billionaires or students,” Warren said minutes before the vote.
Other than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who voted against the measure on procedural grounds in order to preserve Democrats’ ability to reconsider it at a later date, only Republicans voted against it. They said the measure wouldn’t help reduce the skyrocketing cost of college and argued that it was not the best way to help former students manage their debt.  The proposal failed despite nearly widespread agreement among federal policymakers, financial regulators and financiers that Americans’ student debt burdens risk choking U.S. economic growth as student loan payments take ever bigger chunks of workers’ paychecks.”

With this vote, the Republicans are digging their own graves at least with the young people of this country.

Tony