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This is a good start:

Continuing its march through an agenda of popular legislative initiatives, the Democratic-led House is considering cutting interest rates on some college student loans in half.

The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on the measure, which would help an estimated 5.5 million students who get need-based federal loans.

The government pays the interest that accrues on those loans while students are in college. Students pick up the payments after they leave school.

The rates would drop from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent in stages over a five-year period under the House proposal. That would cost nearly $6 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

To avoid increasing the deficit, the bill's cost would be offset by reducing the yield on college loans the government guarantees to lenders and cutting the guaranteed return banks get when students default. Banks also would have to pay more in fees.

The House was expected to approve the bill, though its future is uncertain beyond that. The Bush administration and some top Republican lawmakers oppose it. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., head of the Senate's education committee, plans to pursue broader education legislation that addresses the proposed interest rate cut.

The Democrats should proclaim that education is key to the security of this nation, and that anyone who opposes this bill must also oppose the security of the United States and must therefore hate America.