Squeezing Federal Student Aid

H.R. 609, the bill that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, passed along strict party lines in House committee Friday. The HEA was originally passed by Lyndon Johnson and contains all the student aid programs we know and love; the current reauthorization is a year overdue (priorities, anyone?). Here's the House Democrats on what's wrong with this bill from a students' p.o.v.; most notably, a nearly $11 billion funding squeeze.