Senate GOP bats down last-ditch effort to repeal new student loan caps

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans batted down a last-ditch measure on June 24 that would've repealed Trump administration regulations implementing new federal student loan caps for graduate school.

Democrats offered the legislation, which failed on a party-line vote, ahead of a fast-approaching July 1 deadline, when the borrowing limits will take effect for Americans nationwide.

The changes were passed last year as part of the so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Act and were later finalized by U.S. Department of Education regulations. They amounted to some of the most consequential shifts in the college financial aid system in years — but they've met criticism from some congressional Republicans over the Trump administration's implementation.

Despite supporting the Big, Beautiful Bill, Trump's signature second-term legislative achievement, some GOP lawmakers have since expressed unease about how the caps, specifically for graduate nursing students, could affect shortages in the health care workforce. The Education Department was given some leeway to determine which fields of study would be eligible for an aggregate borrowing limit of $200,000. But some fields, including nursing, were ultimately excluded from that list.

The law eliminates the Grad PLUS lending program, while placing limits on Parent PLUS loans. Undergraduate lending is largely unaffected.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, introduced a measure on Wednesday, June 24, that he said would prevent all the new student loan rules from taking effect, blocking what he called the Trump administration's "gift to predatory lenders" that will push borrowers into the private market.

"There are some who say, 'But wait, we think that the schools will lower their tuition as a result of us making loans unavailable," Merkley said on the Senate floor. "That's a false premise, never worked anywhere. Because the schools have to pay the professors. They have to pay for the infrastructure. They have to pay interest on the buildings they’ve already built. And so they have to charge accordingly."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, the chairman of the Senate's education committee, disagreed. He told Merkley that he believed the new rules would ultimately force schools to decrease costs. Voting to fully reverse them, he said, would "send us back to the Biden administration's student loan disaster."

Still, he said he shared concerns about the way the Education Department's regulations could impact graduate health care programs.

"Frankly, I have some concerns about that," Cassidy, who is himself a doctor, said. "That debate is a separate, targeted conversation."

Zachary Schermele is the congressional correspondent for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.