The Student Loan Bill sponsored by Democrats went down in flames on Wednesday after the vote fell short of the 60 votes it needed to break a filibuster of the bill.

The bill failed to proceed with a vote of 51-49. Because of the failure of the vote, the interest rate on student loans will stand as increased on July 1st at 6.8%, this is double the 3.4% it stood at prior to July 1.

Senate Speaker Harry Reid voted no on the bill as well in a procedural move so that the bill may be brought back to the floor at a later date.

At stake was an extension to the lower rates for another year saving students on average $1,000 over the life of their loan. That extension would have been off-set by the end of the tax break for tax-deferred retirement accounts. It would have generated $4 billion.

The House has also approved Student Loan Legislation and is calling on the Senate to take action on it. That legislation will set the student loan interest rate to the 10-year U.S. Treasury borrowing rate plus 1.85% for undergraduate loans. The cap on interest rates on consolidated loans would set at 8.25%. That Republican-led House bill would be worse for students than doing nothing according to Senate Democrats.

“If you can explain to me why these proposals that the Republican’s have are better than just having the rates double, please explain that to me,” Reid said Tuesday. “I think we should support a plan that would be better for students not worse for students.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said the difference between the two bills came down to whether the government would be profiting from students.

“Right now, the new loans are scheduled to produce $184 billion in profits for the U.S. government over the next 10 years,” Warren said Tuesday evening. “The Republicans have put forward a plan, and they’ve said in this plan that they want to be budget neutral so it produces $184 billion in profits for the United States government. … It’s not a fix — it’s just a different way to make $184 billion in profits off the backs of students.”

Alaska’s Senator Murkowski came out in defense of her decision to vote against the bill today.

“America’s college students deserve the lowest loan rates possible, but they also deserve a permanent solution for all students instead of a one year fix for only some of them – paid for with a tax hike on hard-working Americans’ retirement accounts. That’s why I voted against the band-aid bill proposed by the Senate majority today and why I continue to hope the Majority will allow a vote on the Bipartisan Student Loan Security Act I co-sponsored, which is based on a plan by the Obama administration and very similar to the loan bill passed by the House of Representatives. I remain optimistic that we will find a solution to this problem, but urge my Majority colleagues to put politics aside and keep our students from deeper debt.”

Alaska’s Senator Mark Begich, a co-sponsor of the legislation, was disappointed in the failure of the senate to move the Student Loan Bill forward today.

“There is no smarter investment our country can make than in our students, and that’s why I’m disappointed my colleagues failed to come together and find a solution to stop interest rates from doubling,” said Sen. Begich. “We should be making college more affordable for Alaska students and all Americans, not imposing almost $1,000 of additional debt on students. Big banks should not be getting better rates than college students on federal loans. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can come together to find a solution to this growing crisis.”

Today’s bill would have retroactively set the interest rate back to 3.4% for loans made between July1, 2013 and June 30th, 2014.