The Senate blocked a democratic bill on student loan rates May 8, leaving the possibility open for the interest rate on some student loans to double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.

While the Republicans are talking at a stalemate, the rates are now set to increase on July 1, unless a bill can be passed through Congress.

The bill will not be abandoned, since student loan debt is past $1 trillion in America, and President Barack Obama said he is making the bill a top priority.

President Obama said the bill should be high on the Senate’s priority list.

“Before they do anything else, Congress needs to keep student loan rates from doubling for students who are here and all across the country,” he said told the Associate Press. He added, “Don’t let politics get in the way. Get this done before July 1.”

The bill was designed to extend a piece of legislation passed in 2007 that kept the rate at 3.4 percent.

Freshman David Hric said that the democratic bill to extend the decreased loan interest rates should pass.

“I think it should be extended because we are already paying a lot of money,” he said.

With the Republicans blocking the Democratic bill, they will not have as much support for the upcoming election with students, sophomore Lisa Ngo said.

She said that because of the weak economy, the bill should be passed.

“I feel that if the Republicans want the student vote they will have to pass the bill,” she said. “No one wants to take the blame for not passing the bill.”

In a New York Times article, Mitch McConnell said, the Senate minority leader said that student loan rates shouldn’t be doubled.

“We all agree we’re not going to let the rate go up,” McConnell said in the New York Times article.

The Republicans want to extend the bill from 2007, but denied the new proposal because Democrats suggested changing a law that allows wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying taxes on social security and medicare, according to the New York Times article.

“Instead of compounding the problem with more bad policies that raise taxes on small businesses and raid Social Security and Medicare, we must work together to prevent a rate increase on students and make it easier for job creators to hire them when they graduate,” Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt said in the article.

Both parties will continue to work on the bill until the July 1 deadline.