College Tuition, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

At dispute is how to provide funding that would prevent a jump in the interest rates for subsidized loans made by the federal government to undergraduate college students. The House of Representatives voted last week to keep the rate from doubling, but funded it by eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund that is part of President Obama’s health care law. (The House measure has little chance in the Senate controlled by Democrats.)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing a conservative backlash over his labeling as heartless those who oppose his state law giving college tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants, said Wednesday that the tone of his remarks was “inappropriate.”

In an on-camera interview with Newsmax.com, a conservative media outlet, Perry said he had been “over-passionate” in his answer to a question about the law during last week’s GOP presidential candidates debate.

Of all the punches thrown at Gov. Rick Perry during last week's Republican presidential debate, few landed harder than questions about Perry's support for a Texas bill allowing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.