With just days to spare before a July 1 deadline sends subsidized Stafford loan rates up from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, a group of senators from both parties announced a plan that would link interest rates on new federally backed loans to the financial markets. The deal would avert a costly rate hike for now but could spell higher rates in coming years.

The proposal seemed to stall even before it had a chance to be considered.

The chamber’s top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, said it could never pass.

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