Loan Bill Stripped of Early Ed., Other Priorities

A proposed substantial new investment in early-childhood education has been jettisoned from a measure that would make major changes to the federal student-loan program, after Democrats in Congress found that the estimated savings from the planned overhaul would be too meager to fund several new education priorities.

The student-loan legislation, which is to be attached to the sweeping health care overhaul bill now pending in Congress, would eliminate a program that provides federal subsidies to student lenders and use the savings in part to help shore up the Pell Grant program, which finances grants to help low-income students cover the cost of college.

The Pell Grant program faces a significant shortfall because more students than expected have taken advantage of the grants in recent years, in part to bolster their skills in...