Harry Reid says Senate Democrats will block the legislation. | JAY WESTCOTT/POLITICO House passes student loan bill

The House on Friday approved a bill that would prevent a large increase in student loan interest rates, but only by wiping out a preventive health care fund in the health reform law — a nonstarter with President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats would block the legislation — with the backing of the White House — because of the cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Instead, Reid has filed cloture to start debate on Senate Democrats’ version of the bill to prevent the rate hike, which would be paid for by closing certain tax loopholes.


The House approved the bill 215-195, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans in support of the measure. Thirty Republicans broke ranks and opposed it.

The White House said Friday that senior advisers would recommend that Obama veto the bill if it gets to his desk.

“This is a politically motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing America’s college students deserves,” White House officials wrote.

There is bipartisan agreement on preventing the scheduled increase — from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent — in student loan interest rates. But it’s the way that it’s paid for that is likely to stall the legislation.

The Republican plan would wipe out the last $11.9 billion in the preventive health fund. Democrats blasted the idea as nothing more than another Republican attack on women’s health and Obama’s health care reform law.

“Don’t [stop the interest rate hike] at the risk of birth defects for newborn infants,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said on the House floor. “Don’t do it at the risk of young women and older women being screened for breast cancer and cervical cancer. … We’ll find another way to do this.”

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) dubbed the cuts to the fund “disgraceful, grotesque.”

In a fiery floor speech, House Speaker John Boehner accused Democrats of picking a false fight over women’s health.

“My God, do we have to fight about everything? Give me a break,” he said. “This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women — entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”

Boehner and other Republicans also questioned how seriously Democrats support the health fund, given that they voted in February to take $5 billion out of the account to help pay for the payroll tax break deal. Obama also proposed cutting $4.5 billion from the account in his budget.

“It’s the exact same source we all agreed to use just three months ago,” said Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), the bill’s sponsor.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the previous cuts are “all the more reason why we shouldn't be taking more money out of it.” She said that the cuts to the fund in the payroll deal were the “only way” to get Republican approval of the plan.

The Senate’s student loan bill would be paid for by eliminating a tax loophole Democrats say is often used by Subchapter S corporations to avoid a Medicare tax on their earnings. If the Senate approves the bill after next week’s recess, the “pay-fors” would likely go head to head in a conference, where Democrats have indicated they will fight any more cuts to the preventive health fund.

“Let’s pick a pay-for that the American people can get behind and we can all agree on,” Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) said on the House floor. “Members of the Senate will have to work in conference to make sure that we get to a pay-for for this that makes sense.”

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.) said the prevention fund is “nothing more than a slush fund” that gives too much authority to the HHS secretary for “bike paths, jungle gyms and worse yet, lobbying campaigns.”

She called for the Democrats who are “playing games with this critical issue to grow up. This is not kindergarten. This is [about] the reality of crushing debt college costs.”

Kate Nocera contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:57 p.m. on April 27, 2012.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Rep. Joe Courtney.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Leigh Munsil @ 04/27/2012 04:20 PM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Rep. Joe Courtney.