Republicans just killed a bill that would have allowed students to refinance their loans at lower interest rates because rich people would have to pay for part of it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act didn’t even get past a procedural vote, failing 56-38. Warren said the bill was designed to ease the debts of 40 million Americans who collectively hold nearly $1.3 trillion in loans, at a stunning $30,000 per borrower.
Senate Republicans objected to the inclusion of the so-called Buffett Rule to pay for it, which would have raised income tax rates on rich people who obtain most of their income from investments. Raising taxes is a non-starter for the GOP in both the House and Senate. Just three Republicans signed on with the bill.
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I WISH I only owed $30,000.
I never hated a group of people so much in my life… I fuckin HATE republicans.
Republicans need to GO. THEY NEED TO FUCKING GO.
Some background on the politics of this because I think political reporting tends to contribute to people’s misunderstandings about just what Republican obstructionism is doing.
When the article says the vote failed 56 to 38, what you need to understand is that it failed with 56 votes in favor and 38 against. This was a bipartisan bill, attracted the support of three Republicans and the entire Democratic caucus, a clear majority of the Senate. It failed because Republicans in the Senate are exploiting procedural rules to prevent votes on anything.
It is also worth understanding that the votes they are preventing aren’t even blocking any legislation. This bill would not have passed the House where Republicans hold a majority. Indeed, even if the bill COULD have passed the House with limited GOP support joining with Democrats, the House Republicans follow a standard where only bills with a majority of Republicans supporting it can go to the floor for a vote. So Senate Republicans are obstructing literally just to obstruct. I won’t get into the mess where a the last House election, Democratic candidates actually got a 50.6% majority of the popular vote but this only resulted in 46.2% of the House seats.
Also worth noting here is that Republicans objected to the inclusion of a tax increase to pay for this bill. This is because Republicans have arbitrarily demanded that all new bills be “paid for”. If you are wondering if they held to such strict fiscal responsibility when they were in control of Congress and the Presidency, please refer to the exploding deficits during the Bush administration which inherited balanced budgets. Mind you, this isn’t even necessarily fiscally responsible. At the moment, it is actually extremely inexpensive for the federal government to borrow money. Now is precisely the time to be running responsible deficits in order to stimulate the economy by things like, say, increasing the buying power of young college graduates. Every time a Republican scolds “Washington” for not being able to balance its budgets, understand that every American with a mortgage, a car loan, and (spoiler) student loans isn’t operating with a “balanced” budget by their definition. Because these kinds of investments leading to debt are routine and fiscally healthy. Which is why Republicans always forget about fiscal responsibility when they are spending the money. Because their concern is a sham and they know it.
Except, the new generation of Republicans DON’T actually know that. They’ve swallowed this rhetoric for years and now adhere to it with a religious fervor. And THAT is a scary glimpse into our future.
Ay ay ay