U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is pushing to get a vote from the House of Representatives by the end of the week on a bill that would cut several billion dollars from federal student loan programs.

The Budget Reallocation bill, which would also cut funds from other programs to help pay for hurricane-induced emergency spending, was scheduled for a vote last Thursday, but the action was postponed.

The delay of the vote has brought mixed reactions from political clubs on campus.

“I think the fact that they didn’t vote on it on Thursday when it was scheduled indicates there is still hope for financial aid,” said Drew Larson, president of the ISU Democrats. “I hope moderate Republicans and Democrats can work together to try to ensure that education is a top priority.”

Larson, senior in accounting, said he believes federal financial aid is more important than ever and cuts to programs have contributed to public education becoming less and less public every year. He said during his five years in college, he has witnessed increased tuition and a decreased commitment to education at both the federal and state level.

“It’s my belief that having an educated populous is a public good,” Larson said.

He said he had talked to a friend in the Government of the Student Body who will leave Iowa State with $50,000 in debts, while Larson and his wife both have debts totaling $40,000.

“We have mortgages by the time we graduate from college,” he said. “The only thing saving us is that many of those loans are low interest, federally subsidized or federally backed loans.”

Nicole Woodroffe, president of the ISU College Republicans, said the cuts are a step in the right direction but is not sure they have to come from federal student loan programs.

Woodroffe, senior in political science, said she was surprised by the fact that some Republican representatives are apprehensive about cuts to other social programs. She said she wouldn’t mind seeing cuts made in other areas but would prefer student aid be left alone.

“College students are people that are trying to develop themselves to become productive members of society and cutting loans to them only inhibits that,” she said. “Whereas you could cut money from, say, social security, as far as Medicare and Medicaid.”

Melissa Sellers, Nussle’s press secretary, said the vote was called off by acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo. She said Blunt’s floor assistant said the bill had passed committee, but work was still needed on the bill before a vote could be called.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Nussle reserves the right to change the language of the bill any time before the House calls it to a vote. Sellers declined to comment on the specifics of what that meant for this bill.

Susan McAvoy, press secretary for Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said the congressman would oppose the bill, but will remain in Iowa for the vote, if it would come this week, because he is recovering from surgery.

“Definitely, if he was here, he would vote against,” she said.

Summer Johnson, press secretary for Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said since the bill had not come to the floor yet, she could not speculate on how the congressman would vote.

“We don’t know yet because the deficit reduction act is not on the floor,” Johnson said.