( CNN ) -- The student debt fight is back -- with a vengeance . Once again , current students are facing the possibility of interest rates on Stafford Federal student loans doubling . Once again , we are asking what our leaders are doing about a crisis that gets worse every year . Once again , the answer is : Not much . That is a huge problem -- and not just for millennials , or young people born between 1980 and 2000 . The approximately $ 1.1 trillion in student debt out there already constitutes a crisis for every one of us . It is the only form of household debt that has continued to rise during the Great Recession . It is also the only form of debt that can not be discharged under bankruptcy or even death , as parents who have lost children have discovered to their horror . It is preventing young people from buying homes and starting businesses . In short , student debt is a $ 1.1 trillion anvil dragging down the entire U.S. economy . Unfortunately , the conversation in Washington is not about big fixes , but simply how to avoid making matters worse by letting interest rates rise . Last year , the interest rate on federal Stafford student loans was set to double from 3.4 % to 6.8 % . There was a massive outcry from students and organizations like my own , Rebuild the Dream . Perhaps fearing young people 's electoral clout , Congress kicked the can down the road a year . So here we go again : Last week , President Obama waded back into fight , urging Congress to prevent the rate hike scheduled for July 1 . But this year , something is different : Sen. Elizabeth Warren . A few weeks ago , Warren , D-Massachusetts , proposed groundbreaking legislation that would give students the same deal that big Wall Street banks get . This bill is good policy , and even better politics . After all , why are we loaning money to mega-profitable international financial institutions at 0.75 % , but demanding up to nine times more from our own young people ? By comparison , the otherwise ideal Harkin-Reid proposal for a two-year extension of the current 3.4 % rate is simply not as ambitious . Unfortunately , the proposals with the most energy behind them are worse than both these options . House Republicans , the Obama administration , and a number of senators are all pushing to permanently tie the rate for student loans to the government 's borrowing costs . It may seem commonsense , but the devil is in the details . For instance , the Republican plan passed recently is just plain bad for students . Interest rates on July 1 would actually be higher than 6.8 % for some borrowers , and vary wildly and unpredictably over the lifetime of the loan . The government would mark up the costs 2.5 % to 4.5 % , based on the type of loan . The profit would pay down a deficit young people did not create , instead of funding education . The Obama plan , by contrast , has better terms for borrowers and would offer fixed-rate loans that will not suddenly spike in cost . But it lacks any cap on how high interest rates can go , and continues the worrying practice of the government profiting off student loans . As for borrowers who already have loans ? Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand , D-New York , has proposed allowing students to simply refinance their old loans at today 's historically low rates . It is almost shocking that you can not do this already . California Democratic Rep. Karen Bass ' Student Loan Fairness Act would make repayment fairer and easier . Young people should be rallying behind the Warren , Bass , and Gillibrand bills . But they can and should demand a whole lot more . The problem is not just that the cost of borrowing could go up . The real problem is the skyrocketing cost of tuition that is forcing students to take on unmanageable levels of debt in the first place . It is in our leaders ' own best interests to do something about that . After all , millennials will make up one-third of eligible voters in 2020 . It is no accident that the two best Senate bills were introduced by senators -- Warren and Gillibrand -- who have been rumored as future presidential candidates . But at the end of the day , this is not a student issue . It is not a youth issue . This is a corrosive crisis that touches your life whether you know it or not . If you live in the United States of America , this is your issue . The student debt fight is back -- and it is not going away any time soon . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Van Jones .
Interest rates on Stafford Loans issued after Last week are set to double to 3.4 % . Van Jones : The approximately $ 1.1 trillion in student debt out there already creates a crisis for all of us . He says , unfortunately , Stafford Loans is not looking at big fixes but rather Band-Aid fixes . Jones : Sen. Van Jones proposal to give students lower interest rate is good policy .