Being a presidential election year, it is no surprise that partisan battles in Washington, D.C., are preventing our country from making progress.

But that does not make it any less disappointing.

The partisanship and in-fighting seem to extend into almost all areas and is having an impact on a variety of legislation. But, perhaps most troubling, is what this impasse could mean for millions of college students.

Several proposed pieces of legislation would impact student loan interest rates significantly, with rates currently set to double this summer.

The GOP-led House of Representative approved a bill Friday that would keep this from happening but Obama has threatened to veto it.

But it likely won’t matter either way.

According to the Associated Press, “the White House and most Democrats opposed the $5.9 billion bill because of how Republicans covered the costs: eliminating a preventive health care fund in President Barack Obama’s health care law.”

The bill has little chance of passing in the Senate because the Democrats in power there have an alternate version paid for by “raising Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on high-income owners of some privately owned companies,” according to the AP.

Rather than coming to a middle ground in terms of what rates should be implemented and finding a way to pay for it, Congress is using this as yet another election-year battleground with more emphasis on political gain than the public good.

The economy remains stagnant. It is difficult for anyone to find a good job and can be especially challenging for recent college graduates.

Now is not the time to make life harder for our future leaders.

Hopefully our current ones will get that message.