Key Republican Says 'Fight Is Not Over' on Student Loans

Washington — Republicans haven’t given up on the guaranteed-loan program, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota said today. They have just been preoccupied with health care and other pressing issues.

“I remain hopeful we can keep some private capital in this and keep the private sector involved,” the new top Republican on the House education committee told three higher-education reporters in an interview. “We’re not rolling over.”

Asked why Republicans hadn’t made more noise about President Obama’s plan to end the bank-based student-loan program, Mr. Kline, who replaced Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon of California in the committee role last month, said student loans had “drowned under the weight of other issues.”

“The fight is not over,” he said. “It’s just been on the back burner a bit because we’ve been so focused on health-care reform.”

Mr. Kline said he was particularly troubled by estimates that 30,000 jobs would be lost in the president’s proposed complete transition to the government’s direct-lending program. A group of 31 moderate House Democrats raised similar concerns this week in a letter to the chairman of the education committee, Rep. George Miller of California.

The letter, which was written by lawmakers from districts that include major providers of student loans, urged Mr. Miller to consider alternatives to the president’s plan. —Kelly Field