Warren: Senate to vote again on student loans

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that the Senate will give her student loan bill a second vote in September, as Democrats look to push the issue ahead of November’s midterm elections.

“We will be voting on it again in September,” Warren told Rolling Stone in an interview published Wednesday. 

{mosads}Warren’s bill would allow more than 25 million people to refinance student loans acquired before 2010 to a lower interest rate under 4 percent.

She would pay for her proposal with the “Buffett Rule,” a minimum 30 percent income tax payment from people earning between $1 million and $2 million.

Democrats believe the issue can bolster support from young voters ahead of November’s elections.

Republicans, though, have balked at the legislation, accusing Warren of playing politics. They say the bill would do little to ease the debt burden on students and would hike taxes.

Warren has hammered Republicans on the issue, arguing that they are choosing to help the wealthy over struggling students.

“As a country, we can either invest in tax loopholes for billionaires or lower-cost student loans for young people who are trying to build a future,” she said in the interview.

“Billionaires or students: It’s a pretty stark choice.”

Republicans blocked Warren’s bill from coming to the floor in June in a 56-38 procedural vote, short of the 60 votes needed.

“The Senate Democrats’ bill isn’t really about students at all. It’s really all about Senate Democrats because Senate Democrats don’t actually want a solution for students,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters in June.

“They want an issue to campaign on — to save their own hides in November.”

Only GOP Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski voted to move the bill forward to a floor vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) voted against bringing the bill to a floor vote so that he could bring it up for a vote again.