Dems discuss pairing health with loan reform

House and Senate Democratic leaders spent a significant portion of their meeting Tuesday with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel discussing the possibility of pairing an overhaul of student lending with health care in the reconciliation bill, according to congressional aides.

No consensus was reached, the aides said.

Congress authorized the fast-track rules for both health care and student loan reform, but can pass only one reconciliation measure. That has forced Democrats to either choose between the two items, or try to put them together – a move that could complicate the vote count in the Senate.

Centrists such as Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) have raised concerns about President Barack Obama’s plan to restructure the student loan industry and end government subsidies to private lenders.

Nelson has said it would be hard for him to support a health care reconciliation bill if it is paired with the loan overhaul. He represents a state with loan industry employers, which have argued that the Obama plan would result in thousands of lost jobs.

Conrad, who has argued that the health care reconciliation bill must be narrow, engaged in a back-and-forth with House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) during the meeting, one aide said.

The House passed a student loan overhaul bill last year, but the legislation stalled in the Senate, where it lacks support from 60 members.