 New York Times Headline: “Republicans In Senate Block Bill On Student Loan Rates.” “Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of a Democratic bill to prevent the doubling of some student loan interest rates, leaving the legislation in limbo less than two months before rates on subsidized federal loans are set to shoot upward.” [New York Times, 5/8/12]  Again, XXXX Voted To Allow Student Loan Rates To Double. In May 2012, Riverts voted against passage of the bill that would extend, for one year, a 3.4 percent interest rate on certain federally subsidized, undergraduate student loans. It would be offset by eliminating a tax preference for S corporations, which are companies that pass their income, losses, deductions and credits through to shareholders for federal tax purposes. The measure was rejected by a vote of 51-43 (D 49-1; R 0-42; I 2-0). [Vote 113, 5/24/12] XXXX Voted Against Health Care Reconciliation Package Including Federal Student Loan Reform. In March 2010, XXXX voted against passage of the bill that would make changes to the 2010 health care overhaul law, revise student loans programs and include revenue-raising provisions. It would increase federal subsidies to help low- and moderate-income families purchase coverage through new health insurance exchanges established by the overhaul measure, phase out the coverage gap for Medicare prescription drug enrollees and adjust the federal matching funds for Medicaid. It would increase penalties levied on employers that do not offer health benefits and change the formula used to calculate penalties on employers with workers who obtain subsidies to obtain health insurance through the exchanges. It would freeze Medicare Advantage payments in 2011 and then re-formulate payments according to local costs. It also would specify that in all states, the federal government would cover 100 percent of the cost of coverage to newly eligible Medicaid recipients from 2014 to 2016. It would delay for five years, until 2018, the effective date of a tax on high-cost health plans and adjust the dollar amounts used to determine who would be affected by the tax. It would repeal a provision to allow the cellulosic biofuels producer credit to be claimed by producers of certain paper products. It also would make the federal government the sole originator of federal student loans and direct the savings generated to education programs, including Pell grants. It would shift all new federal student lending to the Direct Loan Program beginning July 1, 2010. It would increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,975 in 2017 and provide $2.6 billion for minority-serving institutions. [Vote 105, 3/25/10] XXXX Voted For Tax Bill That Benefited Wealthy While Raising Taxes for Students. In May 2006, XXXX voted for the final version of the $70 billion tax reconciliation bill that removed a provision that had allowed 3.6 million students and families to deduct $7.1 billion in college tuition costs in 2003. The tuition deduction was included in earlier versions of the bill but was stripped in the final version. Meanwhile, the tax bill XXXX supported would only save middle income Americans $20 each while the top tenth of 1 percent (whose average income is $5.3 million) would save $82,415. [Vote 118, 5/11/06; Senate Finance Committee, 11/7/05; Democratic Policy Committee, 9/26/06 New York Times, 5/5/06]  XXXX Voted Against Extending Expiring Tuition Tax Credit. In November 2005, XXXX voted against a $58 billion tax cut package that would have extended expiring tax cuts, including the college tuition deduction. “For those who say they care about fiscal responsibility, for those who say they are concerned about the explosion of deficits and debt, here is a chance to prove it,” Senator Kent Conrad said of his tax plan. “Here is a chance to vote for this amendment that will extend the tax provisions that are expiring this year for next year’s taxes, and to pay for it by closing abusive tax shelters.” [Vote 330, 11/17/05; Conrad Press Release, 11/17/05] XXXX Was Critical Vote for Largest Student Loan Cuts in History. XXXX voted for the final version of the 2005 budget reconciliation bill, which cut $12.7 million from college loans, the largest cuts to the student loan program in its history. The measure was approved 50-50 with the Vice President voting to break the tie. [Vote 363, 12/21/05; AP, 12/19/05; Washington Post, 12/19/05] XXXX Voted Against Raising Pell Grant Awards. In March 2006, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have increased the FY07 discretionary budget funding by $6.3 billion to $879.3 billion to allow for a 68