Students, lenders offer dueling aid messages
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WASHINGTON -- College students swarmed Capitol Hill to plead for more financial aid Tuesday, as private lenders made a last push to preserve their endangered role in making federal student loans.
The dueling messages sought to influence potential Senate action this week on a proposal to cut funding to lenders that make federally guaranteed loans and channel tens of billions of dollars in savings to scholarships for needy students.
The proposal is attached to a bill the House approved Sunday that resolves various differences among congressional Democrats over health care reform. That bill is separate from the comprehensive health legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday.
If the Senate approves the bill without amendment, it also would go to Mr. Obama for his signature. But lending overhaul foes are seeking to revise it in the Senate to force another vote in the House.
The opponents face a difficult task because overall Democratic support for the bill appears to be solidifying in the Senate, even among members who have expressed concerns about the lending overhaul, several Democratic aides said.
One potential swing Democrat on student loan issues is Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, who signed a letter recently urging the Senate to consider alternatives that would not sacrifice industry jobs. But Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin wrote in an e-mail: "Sen. Nelson likes the education and student loan reforms. He doesn't like the jobs it could cost in north Florida. But at this point, it looks like it's in the health care and education legislation to stay."
On Monday, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., criticized the bill for including "matters unrelated to health care," and said in a statement: "I cannot support this process." Republicans oppose the lending overhaul as an unwarranted government takeover.
The measure would save an estimated $61 billion over 10 years by cutting out private lenders whom the Obama administration describes as needless go-betweens and expanding direct government lending. It would provide $36 billion in Pell grants for students from low- and moderate-income families, including $13.5 billion to plug a shortfall this year because rising numbers of students are eligible for aid.
The United States Student Association rallied hundreds of members on Capitol Hill for the bill. They waved signs -- "Students NOT Banks!"
First Published March 24, 2010 12:00 am
