A bipartisan compromise on student loans promises better deals for students and parents over the next few years but could spell higher rates as the economy improves, the Memphis Daily News reports. Under the deal, undergraduates this fall could borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents would be able to borrow at 6.4 percent. Those rates would climb as the economy improves and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said students will benefit: "For every one of them, the interest rates on their loans will be lower."

The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved $430 million for the Legal Services Corporation in fiscal year 2014. According to an LSC press release, this amount represents a $90 million increase over LSC’s current funding level, and is consistent with the White House budget request for 2014. "We want to thank Senators (Barbara) Mikulski and (Richard) Shelby for showing such strong leadership and support for LSC, and for recognizing the importance of federally funded civil legal aid,” LSC Board Chair John G. Levi said.

A GOP controlled House panel moved yesterday to eliminate funding for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) — a Clinton-era program that helps local governments hire police officers. Driven by deepening automatic spending cuts, the program, slated to get $440 million in President Barack Obama's budget, would instead get "zeroed out" in a spending bill to fund the Justice Department for the upcoming 2014 budget year, WRCB reports.

The House Republican sponsor of the Voting Rights Act updates said Wednesday that Congress must pass a new anti-discrimination law before the 2014 elections that restores the federal supervision the Supreme Court struck down in June. "The Supreme Court said it's an obligation of Congress to do this. That's a command of a separate but co-equal branch of government to do that," Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, told reporters Wednesday after urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to get moving on the issue. WRCB has the story.

A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday pressed forward with a reporter shield bill that includes new Justice Department guidelines for investigations that involve the media, the Memphis Daily News reports. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the new Justice Department guidelines on Friday, which would make it harder for prosecutors to obtain journalists' phone records without advance notice. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, and Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, said they hoped to have the legislation to a Senate committee as early as this week.

Aides to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul say that footage of him praising Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander in a campaign advertisement is not an endorsement for a third term in the Senate. Paul, a tea party favorite who praises the senator in Alexander’s statewide ads, said through a spokesman his remarks should be viewed in a very narrow context. "The footage that Sen. Alexander's campaign is using is from a public press conference in regards to a bill they both co-sponsored," spokesman Sergio Gor said. "At this time Senator Paul has not made an endorsement in this race." The Chattanooga Times Free Press has more.

Democrats took steps toward dramatically limiting Senate filibusters by threatening to use the so-called "nuclear option" to jam through rules changes. Republicans warn the move would destroy bipartisan cooperation in the chamber. "The vast majority of my Democratic caucus wanted to move forward and change the rules," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid following a closed meeting in which Democratic leaders advocated banning filibusters of executive branch appointments, which they argue Republicans have abused. Democratic leaders said they have votes to force the change using a parliamentary tactic that Republicans complain violates Senate rules. WCYB has the story.

Senate Republicans and a few Democrats blocked a White House-backed proposal that would have restored 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for one more year, the Memphis Daily News reports. Lawmakers are racing the clock to restore lower rates before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. Without congressional action in the coming weeks, the increase could mean an extra $2,600 for an average student returning to campus this fall, according to Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act by a 15-7 vote Wednesday morning, giving gay Americans a victory in their long fight against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. The legislation would prohibit employers from firing or refusing to hire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity -- extending workplace protections that already apply to race, religion, gender, national origin, age and disability. Even if the bill passes the Senate, it will face a tough time in the House, the Nashville Business Journal reports.

Tennessee GOP House members remain critical of the immigration reform bill that their fellow Tennessee Republicans, senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, helped pass in the Senate. The House Republican Conference meets today to decide what, if any, route to take on the issue. Congressional Democrats insisted Tuesday they will not agree to any immigration bill that lacks a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. The Tennessean has more.