This afternoon, the Senate will again be voting on proposals to prevent interest rates on federal student loans from going up. Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “This problem could have been solved weeks ago. Democrats weren’t interested. They wanted a scapegoat more than a solution. . . . The Democrat plan is designed to fail. . . . [T]hey propose to divert $6 billion from Medicare and to raise taxes on small businesses — hurting the very companies we’re counting to hire today’s college graduates.  They’ve known for months we won’t support this tax hike and that it couldn’t pass either chamber. It has already failed. But they’re proposing it anyway, for a second time.”

He explained, “[S]ince passage isn’t their goal, our friends on the other side huddled behind closed doors, out of sight of the public and the press, and produced the tax hike instead of letting the committee do its work. We already know how this story ends. So why are Democrats forcing us to vote on their failed proposal yet again? Because, as I’ve said, they’re more interested in drawing our opposition — of creating a bad guy — than in actually solving the problem.”

“When it comes to college graduates today,” Leader McConnell pointed out, “the bigger issue is the President’s economic agenda, which has created an environment in which most of them can’t find a decent job.”

Indeed, recent news reports have described “a grueling job hunt” for young graduates, a jobs “crisis” for young adults, and as Gallup described it, “a disaster for those unemployed and underemployed as they look for jobs when so few new jobs are being created. For younger Americans as a group, this is a particularly acute issue.”

In the last six months, the AP reported, “A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed” and a Pew study found “the lowest employment-to-population ratio for young adults since 1948.” Time reported that “[n]early 25 million adults live at home with their parents because they’re unemployed or underemployed” and according to The Wall Street Journal, “Only 49% of graduates from the classes of 2009 to 2011 had found a full-time job within a year of finishing school . . . .” And Gallup wrote earlier this month, “April has also brought gloomy job news for young Americans and underscores that this group has been struggling disproportionately for some time.

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 30% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

Obama Economy “A Disaster …For Younger Americans As A Group,” Yet Obama Still Offering Same Failed Proposals

Young Americans Struggling In Obama Economy: ‘A Tough Time To Be Young’

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