The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that ostensibly solves the student loan rate issue, but uses cash from the national health care reform law to offset the cost, a plan that won't wash with Democrats. The bill, which passed 215-195 on a partisan vote, would keep college student loan rates at 3.4 percent past July 1, when the loan rate doubles to 6.8 percent. But the costs would be paid from health care reform money, and the White House notes that the money was meant to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings.

The bill is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, and also firmly opposed by President Barack Obama.

The move from House Republicans comes a day after Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) called Obama "beneath the dignity of the White House" for visiting college campuses on taxpayer money to discuss the student loan issue.