House votes to bolster student-loan availability

WASHINGTON — Congress moved Thursday to reinforce the nation's faltering student-loan programs before the new school year.

The swift passage of a bipartisan student-loan bill through the House by a 383-27 vote reflected broad concerns that higher education across the nation could be hit hard this fall by a shortage of financial aid for students.

Dozens of lenders, making up an estimated 13 percent of the market, recently stopped making loans under the federal program, in which the government subsidizes and backs low-interest loans.

The House bill would, as a last resort, allow Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to use federal funds to pick up loans that financial firms refuse to take, but only if that move does not incur a net cost for the federal government.

The amount students could borrow from federal programs would be raised by $2,000, and parents with short-term delinquent mortgage payments would be allowed to access federal loans that otherwise would not have been available.

The White House backs the House bill; the Senate is considering similar legislation.

Committee asks Rove to testify

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday asked former White House adviser Karl Rove to testify about claims that he influenced a federal corruption case against former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama.

The panel also called on the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate allegations that political motivations drove the Siegelman case and several other prosecutions during the Bush administration.

Issuing a lengthy report on possible "selective prosecution," the committee cited cases against Pennsylvania coroner Cyril Wecht and Wisconsin state procurement official Georgia Thompson as other examples that are ripe for review.

Like the Siegelman prosecution, both cases had political undercurrents, with critics saying they were engineered by White House-appointed prosecutors to hurt Democrats. A judge recently declared a mistrial in the Wecht case, and a conviction against Thompson was overturned last year.

Peter Carr, a Justice spokesman, said the department was reviewing the report.

Rove has denied involvement in the Siegelman case. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said testifying would be the White House's call, because it involved executive privilege and separation of powers.

The White House had no comment.

Also

The Department of the Interior says it needs at least 10 more weeks to decide whether polar bears should be listed as threatened or endangered. The estimate was made Thursday as Assistant Secretary Lyle Laverty replied to a lawsuit filed by three conservation groups. A decision had been due Jan. 9.

Seattle Times news services