Under pressure from the White House, Senate leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to tie federal student loan interest rates to rising market rates. Sen. Bernie Sanders and others are fighting for a better deal. “We want to encourage people to go to college, not discourage them,” Sanders said Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program. After much talk about the need to end Senate gridlock, senators reached a very narrow deal on Tuesday that resulted in no real reform of filibuster rules abuse by Senate Republicans. The showdown cleared a way for the confirmation of two Cabinet members on Thursday. Senate environment committee Republicans on Thursday contradicted or ignored the near-unanimous consensus by climate scientists that global warming is real and man-made. To Sanders, it was an Alice in Wonderland experience. 

Student Loans A Sanders amendment would put a two-year time limit on the student loan bill that was worked out by the White House and Senate leaders. If the full Senate goes along, the new loan terms would expire, or “sunset” it Washington parlance, in two years. That would give the Senate education committee time to come up with a new loan law and other ideas to make college more affordable before economists expect the interest rates to begin rising significantly two years from now. Watch Sanders’ floor speech

Global Warming Republicans on the Senate environment committee repeatedly tried to cast doubt on whether climate change is even occurring, let alone what should be done about it. They ignored a NASA report that last month was the second warmest June in recorded history. They ignored a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the United States. “To deny the fact that the overwhelming majority of scientists who have published peer review articles believe not only is global warming real, but it is man-made, and to continue discussion of ‘we are not sure, let’s look at something else’, is almost beyond intellectual comprehension,” Sanders said. Watch “Through the Looking Glass.”

Carbon Tax The idea of taxing carbon emissions to curb climate change has been gaining surprisingly diverse and bipartisan support over the past year, according to a National Public Radio report on a bill by Sanders and Chairman Barbara Boxer. Listen to the NPR report. Read more about the Sanders-Boxer bill.

Filibuster Reform Fizzles An agreement cleared the way for long-stalled confirmation votes on several of President Barack Obama’s nominees. Sanders welcome that development but warned that more must be done to end gridlock in a “seriously dysfunctional” Senate. “The issue that now must be addressed is how we create a process in the Senate which allows us to respond to the very serious needs of the American people in a timely and effective way. The United States Senate cannot function with any degree of effectiveness if a super-majority of 60 votes is needed to pass virtually any piece of legislation and huge amounts of time are wasted eating up the clock with parliamentary tactics meant only to delay for delay’s sake. Listen to Sanders talk about filibusters with radio host Ed Schultz.