“The interest rate on my loans is eating me alive. It is a ball and chain that follows me everywhere I go preventing me from starting the rest of my life.” Saul Barraza, 23, Littleton, Colorado, wrote to Sen. Bernie Sanders. Shannon Lucy, 29, of Essex Junction, Vermont, wrote: “I thought I did everything right. I thought getting an education was an investment in my future. But now there's not a single day when I don't feel like I'm drowning under this massive load of debt. And the worst part is that even though the president is introducing student loan relief measures because my loans are mostly privately funded there's still no relief for me.”

Senate Republicans, nevertheless, on  Wednesday blocked a bill to lower student-loan interest rates. Sanders cosponsored the bill by Sen. Elizabeth Warren to allow borrowers to refinance federal and private student loans at lower interest rates.  But their measure was sidetracked when it failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to stop a Republican filibuster.