'Absolutely Not True'
"To accuse us of wanting to gut women's health is absolutely not true," Boehner said in an infrequent floor speech. "Give me a break."
Other House Republicans agreed. "What we are talking about is using a slush fund that is provided" to the health and human services secretary "to spend as she sees fit," said John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. "That is somehow perceived as an attack on women, what a surprise in this election year."
The Obama administration's policy statement called the Republican measure "a politically motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing America's college students deserves."
In the Senate, Reid set up a procedural vote on a Democratic version of the measure for May 8, after Congress returns from a one-week recess. The House Republican plan "doesn't sound like a good deal to me," the Nevada Democrat said.
The Senate plan would raise $9 billion by requiring law, accounting and other professional services firms with three or fewer shareholders to pay withholding tax if they make more than $250,000 annually. Partners in such firms now treat the income as profits and avoid the withholding tax.
Both bills would amend the 1965 Higher Education Act to adjust the rate for Federal Direct Stafford loans. The 3.4 percent interest rate has been in place since July 1, 2011, and is scheduled to revert to the higher rate on July 1.
Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are both courting the youth vote.
The former Massachusetts governor joined Obama in urging lawmakers to freeze the interest rates students pay for the government loans while blaming Obama for an economy in which "50 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed."
Younger Voters