The House on Friday will vote on a bill from Republicans that would insure interest rates for student loans don't jump suddenly in July. How we got here is a very interesting peek into the politics of 2012.
One week ago, the White House announced that President Obama would go on a two day, three state trip to call for action in Congress on a bill that would prevent a doubling of interest rates for student loans.
The issue seemed to come out of left field; I hadn't really heard anything about it, but President Obama was all fired up and ready to go - to borrow a phrase from four years ago - as he barnstormed through a series of college campuses in recent days.
Republicans evidently felt the heat, because in less than a week, the President's bully pulpit seemed to force the hand of GOP leaders into rushing out a bill to deal with the issue.
Both parties are for the same thing - not letting those interest rates double; but how they pay for it - and how they get there is a reminder of our current political deadlock.
Democrats want to strip tax breaks away from the oil and gas industry, something Republicans have repeatedly rejected during President Obama's time in office.
"They're priority is to protect subsidies for Big Oil," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
The Republican response was straight out of their political playbook - go after the Obama health law.
"We will pay for this by taking money for this from one of the slush funds in the president's health care law," said Speaker John Boehner.
And so, the two parties are locked in their corners on a $6 billion measure to deal with the student loan interest rate increase - those rates would double in July.
"They're the ones that put into law the doubling of student loan interest rates to occur this July," Boehner said, reminding reporters of the 2007 vote that a certain Senator named Obama missed while he was on the campaign trail.
The bill will make it out of the House today - Democrats will certainly try to change the way its paid for in the Senate.
The election year wrangling in Congress is just getting started.
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