{"id":24333,"date":"2026-04-01T13:12:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24333"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:13:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:13:55","slug":"merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington DC <\/strong>\u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley joined a group of Senators in introducing a bill to re-establish access to federal student aid after Congressional Republicans and President Trump\u2019s “Big, Ugly Betrayal\u201d law imposed burdensome provisions that restricted access to affordable higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Restoring College Access and Affordability Act<\/em> reinstates student loan programs and borrower protections, making higher education more affordable and accessible to Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe \u2018Big, Ugly Betrayal\u2019 is the hallmark of the Trump Administration\u2019s \u2018families lose, billionaires win\u2019 agenda\u2014savaging programs families rely on and increasing tax giveaways for Trump\u2019s billionaire friends,\u201d<\/strong> dijo Merkley. \u201cThis critical legislation will restore the college access programs that open the doors of opportunity to good-paying jobs.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Republican “Big, Ugly Betrayal\u201d law undermines affordability and equity in higher education\u2014eliminating loan programs, weakening borrower protections, and threatening institutional stability. The Restoring College Access and Affordability Act<\/em> better serves American students by combatting the Trump Administration\u2019s attacks on higher education and restoring fairness, flexibility, and accountability, re-establishing critical loan programs and protecting loan borrowers from predatory practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Restoring College Access and Affordability Act<\/em> is supported by a number of organizations, including Protect Borrowers, American Federation of Teachers, The Institute for College Access and Success, National Consumer Law Center, National Association for College Admission Counseling, and Student Debt Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill was led by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full text of the bill can be found by clicking\u00a0aqu\u00ed<\/a>, and a one-pager on the bill can be found by clicking\u00a0aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley joined a group of Senators in introducing a bill to re-establish access to federal student aid after Congressional Republicans and President Trump\u2019s “Big, Ugly Betrayal\u201d law imposed burdensome provisions that restricted access to affordable higher education. The Restoring College Access and Affordability Act reinstates student loan programs and borrower protections, making higher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":18845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[139,40],"class_list":["post-24333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-budget","tag-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMerkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley joined a group of Senators in introducing a bill to re-establish access to federal student aid after Congressional Republicans and President Trump\u2019s “Big, Ugly Betrayal\u201d law imposed burdensome provisions that restricted access to affordable higher education. The Restoring College Access and Affordability Act reinstates student loan programs and borrower protections, making higher […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Krakoff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Krakoff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Krakoff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb\"},\"headline\":\"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Budget\",\"Education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Senator Jeff Merkley speaking from a podium.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb\",\"name\":\"Justin Krakoff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justin Krakoff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/justin-krakoff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley","og_description":"Washington, D.C. \u2013 Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley joined a group of Senators in introducing a bill to re-establish access to federal student aid after Congressional Republicans and President Trump\u2019s “Big, Ugly Betrayal\u201d law imposed burdensome provisions that restricted access to affordable higher education. The Restoring College Access and Affordability Act reinstates student loan programs and borrower protections, making higher […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Justin Krakoff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Krakoff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Krakoff","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb"},"headline":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid","datePublished":"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/"},"wordCount":281,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png","keywords":["Budget","Education"],"articleSection":["Press Releases"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/","name":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png","datePublished":"2026-04-01T17:12:35+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T17:13:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-1.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Senator Jeff Merkley speaking from a podium."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-colleagues-fight-to-restore-fairness-in-federal-student-aid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Merkley, Colleagues Fight to Restore Fairness in Federal Student Aid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/c3d47246c54d8abdcee52f34d61da4fb","name":"Justin Krakoff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ba3576c3bf3cb581e2e6031e8ab005ce4a057dc3aec2b380f46fe363a244496?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justin Krakoff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/justin-krakoff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24334,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24333\/revisions\/24334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}