There isn't a politician who doesn't revere the greatest generation of World War II veterans, and it's rare to find one, even among the most conservative, who doesn't praise the New Deal- era GI Bill of Rights that liberated this generation from Depression-era poverty. They extol the bill that allowed the returning veterans to buy homes with no down payments and minuscule interest rates, start businesses, and most important of all, educate themselves.

Yet, many of these same politicians haven't been able to bring themselves to do anything about the problem of out- of-control higher education costs today, which are leaving the current generation with decades of debt.

More than at any previous time in our history, higher education is a requirement to maintain a middle-class lifestyle, but college has become outrageously expensive and difficult to pay for even with student jobs, parental help and scholarships.

The answer is often loans, to be paid back over time - often a long time - after the students complete their education. There are now 40 million Americans paying off college loans that total $1.3 trillion, up $100 billion last year, according to the Federal Reserve. The U.S. Department of Education says 511,000 Connecticut residents owe $12.7 billion of that trillion-plus debt.

Some in Congress, to their credit, are trying to do something about it. In the House, 2nd District Rep. Joe Courtney has introduced a bill that would cut interest rates for undergraduates to a maximum of 3.8 percent, increasing to 5.4 percent after graduation. Parents taking out college loans for their children would pay 6.4 percent interest. These are, to be sure, modest decreases, from a current 4.6 for undergraduates, 6.2 for graduates and 7.2 for parents. It does not ask a lot.

The bill has the support of key Democrats, but there is little, if any, Republican support in a legislative body in which the Republican majority only seems to agree on passing bills repealing Obamacare.

In the Senate, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts continues her battle to allow students to refinance their loans at lower rates. Just days ago, she said "a problem that was bad a year ago has gotten worse" as the loans continue to "produce obscene profits for the federal government and the biggest banks on the private side." Her bill is similar to the House bill introduced by Rep. Courtney, reducing most student loans to below 4 percent.

When she introduced a similar bill last year, it failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Its prospects are equally dim this year with the Republicans now controlling the Senate. In the House, where Republicans increased their majority in the 2014 election, it didn't even come to a vote last year and probably will not this time, either.

The average college student graduates today about $29,000 in debt, according to a study undertaken by The Washington Post. That's the average, with many debts much higher. Consider what that deep debt means to young people just starting out. It often means delaying buying a new car, it makes it difficult to qualify for a mortgage, and it can discourage graduates from taking chances in the job market, for fear that if a job does not work out the debt will go unpaid, ruining credit. Many young people are delaying marriages and starting families because of this extraordinary debt.

None of this is good for the economy or our society.

It's disheartening that President Obama's response has been largely rhetorical. Earlier this month, he went to Georgia Tech to sign what he's calling a Student Aid Bill of Rights, obviously meant to evoke the GI Bill. It's essentially a fraud. It contains no proposed law. Even the president admitted it was not "a fancy new program," but merely what he calls a declaration of values aimed at making college more affordable. It calls on the appropriate government agencies to develop regulatory and legislative changes, including a website for students to file complaints about the loan process. As for student loans, it creates a new task force - another weak gesture - to monitor student loan performance and trends in borrowing.

Young people themselves share some of the blame. Their voting participation numbers are dismal. They should be demanding relief and holding politicians accountable at the polls. Elected leaders also need to address the ever-increasing cost of a public university education. That cost is driving the accumulation of debt.

If we don't do better than this, the American ideal of the next generation doing better than the last will be lost.