Very few seem to have noticed, but Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander managed to introduce an amendment to the 2010 budget, which passed by unanimous consent, that discourages his congressional colleagues from passing the kind of student loan reform necessary to fund the other expansions and reforms to student aid that would make college more affordable and accessible.

Sen. Alexander offered the amendment because he disagrees with a proposal to originate all federal student loans from the direct loan program (DLP), while ending the guaranteed loan program, which is called the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Both programs offer the same loans to students, but work in different ways. In the DLP, loans are made from the federal government directly to students, while in the FFELP student loan companies make loans, which are then guaranteed against default by the federal government.

Switching to the DLP is projected to save taxpayers $94 billion over the next ten years, and President Obama and others have proposed using these funds for an expansion of student aid programs, like the Pell grant.

Sen. Alexander received at least $60,000 in campaign contributions associated with FFELP lenders during the 2008 election cycle, according to data from Opensecrets.org. The Institute for America’s Future and US PIRG estimate that an additional 5,225 students in Tennessee—and 260,000 more students nationwide—would receive the Pell grants that student loan reform would fund under President Obama’s 2010 budget proposal.

The language of the amendment would still have to be accepted by the conference committee that will reconcile the House and the Senate versions of the bill if it is to have any affect. The House version of the bill does not include this language, and allows for budget reconciliation on college affordability and health care. If Congress does not approve student loan reform, the administration may be able to effectivly switch to the DLP by other means. You can check out what other amendments passed here.