This afternoon, the House voted to keep subsidized student-loan interest rates from soaring this July, which you would think would make President Obama quite happy, since he was just slow-jamming the news about this very subject earlier this week. But Obama has threatened to veto the bill, because it would be paid for by taking money out of a health-care fund. Meanwhile, a separate bill in the Democratically controlled Senate would pay for the student-loan fix “by closing tax loopholes for some wealthy business owners.” Sound familiar? That’s because this is the same argument that happens on every single piece of legislation. As the Times explains:
As with other measures designed to aid middle-class voters, the fight between Democrats and Republicans was less over the substance of the bill than how to pay for it, with Republicans, as they have all year, looking to cut government spending and Democrats, as been their approach, looking to extract more money from high earners.
And in the end, Congress accomplishes nothing, and everyone still gets paid! Yippeeeee!
