The House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to gradually cut the interest rate on federal student loans in half, a response to a bill passed last year that raised the rate.

The bill, part of the new House Democratic majority’s 100-hour legislative blitz, would halve interest rates on federally subsidized loans for college students over the next five years. Although the White House issued a statement on Tuesday opposing the bill, the plan drew bipartisan support and passed by a 356-71 vote.

The current interest rate on federal student loans is fixed at 6.8 percent. If the current bill becomes a law, the interest rate will be reduced to 3.4 percent by the summer of 2012.

“This is a great day,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a press statement. “With this vote, the House will take the first step towards guaranteeing that every student, every single student, who is qualified to go to college will be able to afford to go.”

Many student aid organizations and college lobbyists strongly supported the bill. Gabriel Pendas, vice president of the United States Student Association, the nation’s largest student organization, said that the bill would help increase access to higher education.

“[I]t is the first step for Congress to begin . [making] higher education affordable and accessible to all students,” Pendas said. “This bill will save students thousands of dollars.”

Pendas said that there are many more issues that Congress still needs to address, such as increasing the maximum Pell Grant, a major undergraduate federal loan that has not risen above $4,050 for the past five years.

Scott Fleming, assistant to the university president for federal relations, said that Georgetown feels that the bill is a positive step toward strengthening financial aid.

“This change is most encouraging,” Fleming said. “We hope that this bill will be part of a broader legislative effort that will help increase the overall availability of student financial aid and thereby help cover the cost of going to college.”

Fleming said that 15 to 20 students from Georgetown University’s College Democrats and the Georgetown University Legislative Advocates traveled to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to sit at the gallery while the House voted on the bill.