Congress blocks a new student loan rule from Education.
S.J.Res. 196 — A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to "Reimagining and Improving Student Education-Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations". · Filed by Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 4, 2026 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This resolution stops a student loan rule. The Department of Education made it on May 1, 2026. If Congress passes it, the rule will not work. The resolution does not make a new rule. It only cancels the old one.
Who it affects
Students who borrow federal money for school are affected. Loan companies that handle the loans are affected.
One thing to notice
The bill text does not say what the old rule did. It does not say what will happen if blocked.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 7 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Jun 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 4, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
- Jun 10, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions discharged, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
21 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 21 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $7,580,064 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 27 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 97% of bills with any report.
Jeff Merkley, who sponsored the bill, received $501,425 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- American Hospital Association — $4,470,000 in 1 report
- National Education Association — $670,000 in 1 report
- Americans for Prosperity — $660,000 in 1 report
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $400,000 in 1 report
- American Association of Nurse Anesthetists — $275,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- resolution — A formal decision made by Congress.
- Department of Education — The part of the U.S. government that handles schools and student loans.
- rule — An official order that says how something must work.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,491 characters) on Jun 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 24, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
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