Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, a beaming President Obama today signed legislation sealing his health care overhaul and making the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. Both domestic priorities came in one bill, pushed through by Democrats in the House and Senate. The new law makes changes to the massive health insurance reform bill he signed into law with greater fanfare last week.
At Northern Virginia Community College, where Jill Biden teaches, he emphasized the overshadowed part of the bill: education. The new law restructures the way the government handles student loans, stripping banks of their role as middlemen. The president said that change would save more than $60 billion over the next 10 years. "I didn't stand with the banks and the financial industries in this fight," Obama said. "That's not why I came to Washington, and neither did any of the members of Congress who are here today."
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