This is a perfect example of the two Americas in which we now live. Government elites live by one set of rules and average working Americans live by another.

Paul Singer of USA Today reports. H/t to George Leef of National Review.

Taxpayers pay millions for fed workers’ student loans

Congress may let student loan interest rates double July 1, but some federal workers and congressional staff likely are protected from the impact by a taxpayer-funded benefit that provided more than $20 million last year for them to pay down their college debts.

Congress created the benefit more than 10 years ago to make government jobs more appealing to job candidates who could get higher-paying jobs in the private sector. Meanwhile, a 2007 law that cut student loan interest rates in half will expire July 1, and Congress has been unable to reach a deal to extend it.

A review of congressional spending records by USA TODAY and the non-profit Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group, showed that the House of Representatives spent almost $15 million last year to pay down staffers’ student loans, while the Senate spent almost $6 million. Members of Congress are not eligible for the program.

Federal agencies — which provide more detailed information — spent about $72 million in 2011, the last year for which data are available, to pay down student loans for 10,134 federal workers.

Federal officials defend the program as a critical benefit that helps the government recruit and retain top talent. Congressional sources point out that participants are not protected from interest rate increases.

“This is a program designed to help attract talented people to careers in public service since they can generally find higher salaries in the private sector,” said Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.