Cutting Subsidies for Loan Profiteers?

A clip from Inside Higher Ed:

Democratic Congressional leaders reached agreement late Tuesday on a 2008 budget resolution that greatly increases the likelihood that lawmakers pass legislation this year that will cut financial support for student loan providers and use the savings to increase financial aid for students. Predictably, the move brought praise from student groups and howls of protest from lenders.

The Congressional action came in a seemingly arcane procedure in which House and Senate leaders, at the urging of the heads of their chambers’ education committees, included what is known as “budget reconciliation” language in the spending blueprint they plan to pass this week. Under that language, the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee commit to developing legislation by September that would produce at least $750 million in budget savings from the mandatory programs under their jurisdiction. . . .