'Smooth Sailing' Predicted for Higher-Education Bill

By Mark Pitsch

WASHINGTON--Having disposed of the most controversial proposals earlier in the legislative process, members of the House and Senate are expected to breeze through an upcoming conference on bills to extend the Higher Education Act.

"I hope all in all it's going to be smooth sailing,'' said Tom Wolanin, an aide to Representative William D. Ford, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, and a key architect of the House bill. "The hard part is just the sheer magnitude of the things to go through rather than any major philosophical differences between the House and the Senate.''

Lobbyists also predict that the...