Republicans in Senate Block Bill on Student Loan Rates
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Published: May 8, 2012
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of a Democratic bill to prevent the doubling of some student loan interest rates, leaving the legislation in limbo less than two months before rates on subsidized federal loans are set to shoot upward.
Along party lines, the Senate voted 52 to 45 on a key procedural motion, failing to reach the 60 votes needed to beat back a filibuster and begin debating the measure. Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the moderate Republican from Maine who is retiring, voted present.
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