The student loan bill is not a victory. Stop calling it that.
by David Atkins
I guess this is what passes for a "victory" these days:
The Senate voted 81-18 Wednesday for legislation on student loan rates, splitting Democrats in the chamber.
Seventeen Democrats voted against the bipartisan bill that would cap most student loan rates at 8.25 percent.
“I cannot support a plan that raises interest rates in the long-term while the federal government profits off them,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. “This is obscene. Students should not be used to generate profits for the government.”
Some Senate Dems have been slagging Warren for posturing on this issue, claiming that this bill is the best they'll get through Republican opposition. Maybe so.
But if this is the best they can do, don't call it a victory. Don't say it's helping students. It isn't.
Conventional wisdom in politics says to take credit for victories wherever possible. That thinking is understandable--perpetual anger and frustration leads to defeatism that de-energizes activists--but in cases like this, it's important to call it like it is and lay blame at the feet of the opposition.
If I were in the Senate, I would probably vote for the bill. But I would go to every media person who would listen and say, "I voted for this, but I despise it. Students should not be profit cash cows for the government so that billionaires can get tax breaks. But Republicans are insisting on that, and there's no way to pass a bill without them."
And then I would look right into the camera and say, "Students and parents of America, if you want the government to stop using you to close the deficit so Wall Street can get tax cuts, give me more progressive colleagues to work with in Congress. The Republicans don't care about you, or the country's future."
Would that be divisive? Yes. But so what? That's not a bad thing. In cases like this, the only evil is compromise.
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