Congress's Dueling Moves Over Student Loans
As Democrats in the House of Representatives joined the Obama administration in urging college leaders to prepare for the government's seemingly likely switch to 100 percent direct student lending, Congressional Republicans issued a challenge of their own, introducing legislation (with the support of one key Democrat) that would extend a stopgap 2007 law that sustained the lender-based guaranteed loan program with a massive infusion of federal funds. That legislation, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, made the federal government the backstop for federal student loans issued by banks and other lenders. Education Department officials have cited the June 30 expiration of the law as a major reason why the administration's plan to shift all student lending to the direct loan program must proceed apace, and Reps. George Miller and Ruben Hinojosa sent a letter to college presidents Wednesday urging them to get their campuses ready for the switch, even though the legislation has passed only the House and faces a fight in the Senate. But by proposing an extension of ECASLA, Republicans are essentially giving lawmakers uneasy about pushing ahead with a massive change in federal policy a potential alternative.
