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H.R. 1911 (113th): Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013

May 23, 2013 at 12:39 p.m. ET. On Passage of the Bill in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 1911 (113th) in the House.

It was not the final House vote on the bill. See the history of H.R. 1911 (113th) for further details.

6/17/2013: In what could become an annual occurrence, Congress yet again faces a looming deadline to resolve the problem of student loan interest rates. Without Congressional action, the rate on federally backed Stafford loans is set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1.

The Senate in early June failed to advance two bills meant to prevent this imminent increase in rates. A bill backed by Democrats would extend the current interest rate for two years, and offset the cost by ending three tax breaks. A GOP bill would peg all newly issued student loans to the U.S. Treasury 10-year borrowing rate plus 3 percentage points. Given the current Treasury rate of 1.75 percent, a student taking out a loan this coming school year would pay 4.75 percent for the life of the loan under this proposal. The Democrats’ bill garnered 51 votes, shy of the 60 needed to end debate, while the Republican proposal failed 40 to 57.

Meanwhile, the House in May passed a different Republican plan in a 221 to 198 vote, largely along party lines. This plan would permanently fix the problem by tying the student loan interest rate to the 10-year Treasury rate plus 2.5 percent. The bill would also reset the rate every year, though students could consolidate their loans into a fixed rate after graduation, and it would cap this rate at 8.5 percent.

The bills that have been voted on are among numerous measures put forward to deal with this political hot potato. House members have introduced bills to extend the 3.4 percent rate for another year (Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)), two years (Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX)) or four years (Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)). Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) have proposed to key the student loan rate to the rate the Federal Reserve charges banks for very short-term loans, currently 0.75 percent.

Other lawmakers have tackled the interest rate issue as part of a broader reform of the federal student loan system. Thus, Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) has filed a bill to calculate loan repayments based on the borrower’s salary, while also fixing the interest rate to the 10-year Treasury rate plus 3 percent. Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) has introduced the Student Loan Fairness Act, which, among other things, would permanently cap the interest rate for all federal student loans at 3.4 percent.

The potential change in interest rates on subsidized student loans has its origins in a 2007 bill intended to boost college aid. In addition to increasing grant amounts to students and improving access to student loans, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act established a stepped reduction in interest rates. Beginning in July 2008, the rate was lowered over the course of four years from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, and was supposed to revert to 6.8 percent in July of last year.

Just two days before the July 1, 2012 deadline, Congress passed an extension of the 3.4 percent rate for another year. The temporary fix was adopted as part of a transportation spending bill that passed the House by a vote of 373 to 52 and the Senate 74 to 19. The $6 billion price tag associated with the extension was paid for by limiting students’ eligibility to subsidized loans to six years and changes in pension laws. A year has gone by, and now legislators are back at square one.

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All Votes R D
Aye 53%
 
 
221
217
 
4
 
No 47%
 
 
198
8
 
190
 
Not Voting
 
 
15
8
 
7
 

Passed. Simple Majority Required.

Data from the official record at house.gov.

Ideology Vote Chart
Key:
Republican - Aye Democrat - Aye Republican - No Democrat - No

Seat position based on our ideology score.

Cartogram Map

Each hexagon represents one congressional district. Dark shaded hexes are Aye votes.

What you can do

Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
“Aye” or “Yea”?

“Aye” and “Yea” mean the same thing, and so do “No” and “Nay”. Congress uses different words in different sorts of votes.

The U.S. Constitution says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). Congress takes this literally and uses “yea” and “nay” when voting on the final passage of bills.

All Senate votes use these words. But the House of Representatives uses “Aye” and “No” in other sorts of votes.

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Statistically Notable Votes

Statistically notable votes are the votes that are most surprising, or least predictable, given how other members of each voter’s party voted and other factors.

All Votes

Study Guide

What was the procedure for this vote?

  1. What was this vote on?

    2. Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

    This vote is related to a bill. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what it is about. Congress makes many decisions in the process of passing legislation, such as on the procedures for debating the bill, whether to change the bill before voting on passage, and even whether to vote on passage at all.

    You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the House was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

  2. What is the next step after this vote?

    3. Take a look at where this bill is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the bill. Will there be amendments? Will the other chamber of Congress vote on it, or let it die?

    For this question it may help to briefly examine the bill itself.

What is your analysis of this vote?

  1. What trends do you see in this vote?

    2. Members of Congress side together for many reasons beside being in the same political party, especially so for less prominent legislation or legislation specific to a certain region. What might have determined how the roll call came out in this case? Does it look like Members of Congress voted based on party, geography, or some other reason?

    One tool that will be helpful in answering this question is the cartogram at the top of the page. A cartogram is a stylized map of the United States that shows each district as an identical hexagon. This view allows you to see the how the representatives from each district voted arranged by their geography and colored by their political party. What trends can you see in the cartogram for this vote?

  2. How did your representative vote?

    3. There is one vote here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your representative, which is meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your representative voted? Why do you think they voted the way they did?

    If you don’t already know who your Members of Congress are you can find them by entering your address here.