Legislation aimed at allowing student loan borrowers to refinance their debt will return to the Senate floor for a second vote next month.
The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, authored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., failed in June to get the required 60 Senate votes needed to advance the bill - falling short 56 to 38. Warren at the time vowed to continue pushing the issue.
The bill would have allow people with federal and private loans issued before 2010 to refinance at 3.86% - the interest rate Congress set for federal student loans a year ago.
The proposal would be funded through tax increases to U.S. high-income earners, which would offset the cost of lowering interest rates. But even if the Senate had passed the bill in June, it was expected to face strong opposition from some House Republicans because of the funding source.
Warren has said that Democrats are open to alternative plans to pay for the rate reduction, but added that her GOP colleagues did not offer any.
The Obama administration has estimated that the bill could help 25 million borrowers save $2,000 over the lifetime of their loans. The president
