WASHINGTON – With only two weeks left before congressional members return home for their August break, some progress has been made on big legislation proposals, but not enough to enact any laws.

A rundown of three of the proposals making some of the biggest headlines:

Student loans

Congress continues to struggle with finding a solution to rising interest rates on Stafford subsidized student loans.

However, the Senate recently proposed a bipartisan compromise basing these rates on the U.S. Treasury note with an added 2.05 percent. Thus, this year’s interest rate on Stafford subsidized student loans would be 3.86 percent under the Senate’s bill.

Lawmakers this week are expected to consider the bipartisan fix, which would overhaul the entire federal student-lending program. The White House is urging Congress to pass it.

This proposal is similar to a House bill passed in May. The interest rate also is linked to the Treasury note, but with an added 2.5 percent, totaling a 4.6 percent interest rate for those loans for this academic school year.

The interest rates on Stafford subsidized loans doubled to 6.8 percent July 1 after Congress failed to re-enact the former 3.4 percent rate.

Both bills would be retroactive, allowing students who pulled out subsidized student loans during the hike to receive the new, lower interest rates.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, voted in favor of the House bill.

As the economy improves and interest rates on the Treasury note climb, these specific rates will increase, as well. “CNN Money” projected interest rates could reach 7 percent for undergraduates by 2017.

The rising rates would save the government $715 million that would go toward the deficit, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.

However, the Senate bill would cap interest rates for undergraduates at 8.25 percent instead of the House’s proposed 8.5 percent.

The Senate rejected the House’s bill based on its higher rates and its link to the Treasury note. The current bill was introduced after Democrats failed to pass an extension of the previous 3.4 percent rate increase earlier this month.

An average of 1,700 Fort Lewis College students have taken out Stafford subsidized student loans during the last five years, FLC Public Affairs Officer Mitch Davis said.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has not yet taken a stance on the Senate’s proposal, said his spokesman Mike Saccone.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., still is reviewing the proposed bill’s content, as well, his spokesman Adam Bozzi said.

The Senate is expected to vote on this bill in upcoming days.

Farm bill

The 2013 Farm Bill remains a debated issue after the Republican-dominated House passed a version of the bill without a food-stamps program, now known as the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Tipton voted in favor of the bill’s passage.

Farm bills are five-year policies on agricultural topics such as food-stamp programs, crop insurance and farmers’ subsidies.

Previous farm bills included a food-stamp program, but members of the House pledged to introduce a separate bill for SNAP later.

The La Plata County Farm Bureau expressed concern about splitting the 2013 Farm Bill and its potential effects in a July 11 news release.

Almost 60 percent of La Plata County is considered rural population, according to the 2010 records from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Instead of encouraging a compromise, splitting titles will drive a wedge … between conflicting parties,” Colorado Farm Bureau President Don Shawcroft said in the release. “This wedge threatens both pieces of legislation, which in turn threatens agricultural producers.”

The Senate passed a different version of the bill in June with a total price tag of about $955 billion through the next 10 years.

Udall abstained from voting while Bennet voted in favor of the bill.

The House bill would cost $196 billion through 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office reported. The difference between the Senate and House versions is the cost of the SNAP program.

Approximately 1 in 7 Americans relies on SNAP for assistance, according to the Food and Research Action Center, a nonprofit that advocates for adequate nutrition nationwide.

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy reported more than 500,000 Coloradans use SNAP as of February 2012.

Many are unsure whether Congress will be able to pass a new farm bill before the 2012 Farm Bill’s expiration Sept. 30.

Immigration bill

The House will be drafting its own immigration-reform bill in the wake of controversy surrounding the Senate’s 1,000-page legislation passed in late June.

House Republicans rejected the Senate bill’s proposed path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, calling it amnesty. However, they did show support for allowing the children of undocumented immigrants to become citizens.

Tipton echoed his Republican colleagues, citing strengthened border security and a reinforced guest-worker program as steps to fixing the immigration system.

“It’s important that as Congress works on reform, it does so in a way that ensures the problems facing the current system are permanently fixed so this nation doesn’t end up here again in 20 years,” he said.

The Senate passed a comprehensive bill in late June, which would allow immigrants in the country illegally to obtain citizenship, beef up border security and permit more temporary workers.

Udall and Bennet, one of the “Gang of Eight” bipartisan group that drafted the bill in April, voted in favor of the bill.

About 180,000 immigrants live in Colorado illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center’s latest report in 2010.

The House is expected to announce an immigration proposal soon.

Paige Jones is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. Reach her at [email protected].