The student loan and women’s health care battle

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner. Photo via Wikipedia.

On Friday the House voted on a bill to keep some student loan interest rates at 3.4% instead of raising the interest rates to 6.8% for 7.4 million students. The battle ensues because Republicans are agreeing to keep interest rates low, but want to pay for it by cutting 6 billion dollars from the Prevention and Public Health Fund which helps women get breast and cervical cancer screenings.  The Huffington Post reports that President Obama is threatening to veto the bill because of the proposed funding cuts by House Republicans.

Democrats argue that funds have already been cut from the 11.9 billion program (once 16 billion)  and that the GOP isn’t concerned about student loan rates. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) was quoted in the Huffington Post saying,  “Make no mistake … our Republican colleagues haven’t changed their minds about this, they’ve changed their tactics,” he goes on to say, “If they really wanted to stop student loans from increasing, they wouldn’t seek to cover the cost by cutting funds for cervical cancer screening, by cutting funds for breast cancer screening, but cutting other women’s health care measures. They wouldn’t push a measure the president has already said he will veto.”

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Oh) accuses Democrats of politicizing an issue that does not exist. “Why do people insist that we have a political fight?” Boehner said. “People want to politicize this because it’s an election year, but my God, do we have to fight about everything?

“Now we’re going to have a fight over women’s health. Give me a break,” Boehner said. “This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”

But Democrats argue that “war on women” was created by the GOP through their policies. And by cutting funds for women’s health care through student loans is another way to get their agenda through. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) said, “They’re using the student loan issue to drive their agenda. I find that very cynical. I find that in fact quite repulsive.”

“They’re not looking for a better way. They’re just looking for a way to cover their rear ends.” Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif).

A statement made by the White House on Friday said that if the President is presented with the bill, he would be recommend by his senior advisors to veto it.