Deal On Student Loans? Maybe

Time is fast running out for college students on the interest they will be charged on their student loans. If a deal is not agreed to and passed before the end of this month, then that interest rate will double (to 6.8%). That would place college out of reach for many more young Americans, and significantly increase the debt load on many others. College is already so expensive that, unless a student has rich parents, it is almost a sure thing that they will have to borrow some money to get a college education. This means they will spend many years after college trying to pay back that money they had to borrow -- and a doubling of the interest rate will make paying that borrowed money off much more difficult.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) announced they have reached a deal that would allow the interest rate to stay down. Now they just need to find a bill to attach the agreement to (and they think it could possibly be attached to the transportation bill which is already in a House/Senate conference committee and close to agreement). And they need to get House approval of the agreement.

House approval could be the fly in the ointment. The teabaggers in the Republican Party seem to be running things in the House of Representatives, and they have derailed other bills that McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner had thought would be easily passed. For the House teabaggers, ideology is more important than doing something to help Americans, and they could rebel against the agreement in the Senate.

For now, we'll just have to wait and see if the House is interested in getting something done, or playing politics to their base. It could go either way.