WASHINGTON (AP) — An emerging deal to lower interest rates on student loans hit a major obstacle Thursday after lawmakers were told it carried a $22 billion price tag over the next decade. The proposal was designed to offer Democrats the promise that interest rates would not reach 10 percent and to give Republicans a link between borrowing terms and the financial markets that they sought. But at that cost, the bipartisan coalition behind it decided to push pause and return to negotiations to bring that cost down. [...] If fresh negotiations prove fruitless, millions of students returning to campus next month will find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. Without congressional action in the coming weeks, the increase could mean an extra $2,600 for an average student returning to campus this fall, according to Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

bipartisan student loan deal emerged on Thursday that could have seen students paying interest rates on their student loans that were more than double the 3.4 percent interest rate Democrats hoped to maintain. Their efforts were filibustered on Wednesday by Republicans along with Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Angus King (I-ME). Now that deal has faltered, brought down by a bad CBO score House Republicans have passed a plan, echoing President Obama's budget proposal, that would tie student loan interest rates to the the 10-year Treasury note. With economic recovery, students could have seen their interest rates—and their debt—exploding to over 10 percent. That was the original plan proposed by Manchin and his Republican buddies, but opposed by the majority. In negotiations with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), a cap keeping undergraduate rates below 10 percent was included. That's the plan that the CBO scored and found too expensive for negotiators to stomach.

So here we sit. The Senate didn't deal with interest rates before they expired on July 1. Now they're trying desperately to figure out a way to make students pay more—but not enough more that they'll send millions of students out of school, just enough to make it painful—before their August recess.

Good job, Senate Democrats, who are still too scared to reform the filibuster on legislation.

Click here to tell Sens. Angus King and Joe Manchin to put students before banks.