Government takeover!" so yelled the many critics of President Barack Obama's health care reform bill. But in their focus on the main event, Republicans seem to have all but ignored another part of the legislation that more precisely fits their rhetoric. In addition to securing the President a victory on health care, the House bill took him one step closer to delivering on a promise to reform the college-student-loan system. If a final piece of legislation before the Senate is approved, millions of students will get their federal loans directly from the Department of Education. In other words, the federal government would sweep aside private competitors in the biggest change to the federal student-loan program since its creation in 1965. It's a legitimate government takeover.
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