RUSH: Looky here, folks. According to CNN, Pelosi says Obama would veto the Republican student loan plan. Sorta tells you how important it is to him. What is the Republican student loan plan? Well, I’ll tell you what it is. The Republican student loan plan is a piece of legislation that would prevent the interest rate from doubling. The student loan interest rate is supposed to go up, supposed to double in July. So John Boehner and the House Republicans have proposed legislation to prevent that from happening. CNN is reporting that Nancy Pelosi says Obama would veto that. Why?
This is so brazen and blatant. He wants the issue. He’s gonna veto this so that student loan rates will go up so that he can blame Republicans for it. He is counting on the fact that the media will not significantly report the Republicans tried to stop it. Pelosi is attacking the Republican bill. This is what they’re saying. Because this is paygo. “Okay, how we gonna pay for this? The student loan interest rate.” The government runs it now. The higher interest rate goes the more the government gets. So if you’re not gonna have the student loan rate doubled, then the government says, “Uh-oh, we’re losing money here.” So Boehner and the boys, to make up the loss, take $5.8 billion from Obamacare, and Pelosi is attacking Boehner’s bill because it uses that $5.8 billion from Obamacare’s preventative health program. She’s calling it an attack on the health of American women. Apparently only American women benefit from preventative health care.
Now, never mind that Democrats voted earlier this year to take money from the preventative health fund to help pay to keep doctors’ Medicare reimbursements from dropping. And never mind that Obama’s own budget proposed cutting $4 billion from the same fund to pay for some of the other stuff they wanted. The GOP has always been against the interest rate on student loans going up. They just want to pay for it. Again, folks, just so everybody’s clear, the student loan interest rate is scheduled to double because of legislation the Democrats wrote in 2007. And since the government runs the student loan program, all the interest payments go to the government now, not private sector banks.
So, if the student loan interest rate’s scheduled to double, then the government’s telling itself it’s gonna have that much more money coming in as people pay off their loans and pay the new interest rate. So the Republicans come along and say, “We’re gonna make sure the interest rate doesn’t go up.” Well, that means the government’s gonna lose all that money. Oh, no, government can’t do with a penny less than it has ever spent. That’s right. It’s different when Obama does it. Obama can spend all kinds of money he wants, doesn’t have to be paid for. The Republicans have to pay for what they do. So the government is not gonna do without the money that’s supposed to be flowing in and the interest rate doubling. So Boehner’s gonna go get it, and there’s plenty of it, by the way, from Obamacare. It’s got so much wasteful spending in it, it’s obscene, and Pelosi, (imitating Pelosi) “Oh, no, we’re not supporting that. You’re not gonna take money from Obamacare. Why, that’s gonna hurt women.”
This is breaking news the way the AP is reporting this. “House ignores veto threat, OKs bill keeping federal student loan interest rates from doubling.” The bill passed 215 to 195, which means some Democrats voted with the Republicans. I’m assuming so, I’m assuming it’s bipartisan. In 2007 — it’s important to remember this so you can tell all your friends — in 2007 the Democrat controlled Congress could have made this interest rate permanent. Nobody coulda stopped them. They had a veto-proof majority. The Democrats are playing a political game. 2012 is an election year. The student loan interest rate is doubling in July of an election year so they can blame Republicans.
They wrote that into the law. They could have kept it permanent. So the Republicans want to lower the student loan interest rate, quote, unquote, pay for it by grabbing $5 billion from Obamacare. Pelosi says, “Nope, nope, not gonna do that,” and Obama’s threatening to veto it now. I think Republicans next ought to go after Obama’s $8 billion slush fund, which he implemented that to keep from gutting Medicare Advantage before his election. I’d take the gloves off. You know, I’d just go for everything now.
But all you need to know is Obama’s out campaigning to every college student audience he can find, trying to scare the heck out of them that their student loan interest rate’s gonna double in July because of the Republicans. The Republicans have just voted to prevent it from doubling, and Obama’s promising to veto it. So that’s that.
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