Lobbyists Are in High Gear as Final Outline of Student-Loan Bill Takes Shape
Washington
Congressional Democrats, amid negotiations overshadowed by the nation's prolonged health-care debate, appear to have reached agreement on student-loan legislation championed by President Obama that would pump billions of dollars into higher-education programs.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the chairmen of the two education committees in Congress, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. George Miller of California, have made plans to publicly outline the agreement on Thursday, aides said Wednesday.
Their announcement would cap one final week in which college lobbying groups that support the measure have been urging their members to phone wavering lawmakers, and loan companies opposed to the bill have kept reminding the lawmakers of alternatives that the companies contend would save jobs and preserve competition in the system.
Democrats have been working for the past year to pass the measure, which would end the bank-based system of distributing federally subsidized student loans and channel the savings into Pell Grants and other education priorities.
The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill last September, but the initiative has been held up in the Senate by the recognition that it could win approval only under special rules for "budget reconciliation" measures. Under that process, a measure that reduces total federal spending can pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes rather than the 60 votes needed
