Watch out, Elizabeth Warren: A Republican lawmaker who’s also asenior member of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition teamappears to be vying for the title of Congressional champion ofstudent debtors.

U.S. Representative Tom Reed this week formally endorsed a laworiginally proposed by House Democrats. Though a long shot,the bill would do more for America’s roughly 42 millionstudent debtors than the one proposed two years ago by Warren,the liberal firebrand from Massachusetts. Democrats didn’t quiteknow what to make of Reed’s move.

“Heavens, are you sure that happened?” said U.S.Representative John Garamendi, the California Democrat whoauthored the proposed law that Reed, who represents westernNew York state, decided to co-sponsor.

The plan calls for allowing debtors with high-rate federal loansto refinance into cheaper debt. Warren has been among the idea’smost outspoken proponents, arguing that it’s unfair that studentdebtors, unlike homeowners, can’t take advantage of low interestrates to refinance their loans into new government-backed debt.Reed, an early Trump backer and vice chairman of his transitionteam, said he agrees.

Although a lot of opposition remains among CongressionalRepublicans, and not to mention the student loan industry, thedevelopment prompted at least one analyst who follows highereducation policy to opine that the proposal, thought dead afterHillary Clinton’s electoral college loss, might have a shot inthe new Congress.

“Donald Trump was delivered to Washington on apopulist wave, and ultimately his legislative agenda will embracethat in some way,” said Isaac Boltansky, an analyst in Washingtonwith Compass Point Research & Trading. “Student loan re-ficould be one of those components.”

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Warren spokeswoman Lacey Rosedidn’t respond to requests for comment.

Under Warren’s proposal, student loan refinancing rates would range from3.86 percent to 6.41 percent, or the interest rates that prevailedduring the 2013-14 academic year.

The Senate bill’s language reflects a 2013 law that tiedinterest rates on new student loans to yields on 10-year Treasurynotes, with a markup of 2.05 to 4.6 percentage points, depending onthe type of loan. The Reed-backed proposal in the House calls for amarkup of just 1 percentage point for all loans.

“It is only right that young people who are working hard to payoff their student debt have the opportunity to refinance theirloans when interest rates decrease,” Reed said in a documentoutlining his position. “This solution will have a positiveshort-term impact by helping students to save money and pay offtheir loans more quickly.”

Publicly traded Nelnet Inc. and Navient Corp., the two biggestowners of student loans originated under thesince-discontinued bank-based federal program, stand to lose futureinterest revenue if either proposal becomes law. Their combinedholdings of about $115 billion in U.S.-guaranteed debt could shrinkif borrowers refinance into cheaper obligations made directly bythe Department of Education.

Both firms have lobbied Congress on student loan refinancingproposals, records show. Patricia Christel, a spokeswoman forNavient, and Ben Kiser, a spokesman for Nelnet, didn’trespond to requests for comment.

It’s unclear how many borrowers could ultimately benefit undereither the Warren or Reed-backed plan, which on the off chance theyboth passed, would have to be reconciled.

The Education Department doesn’t disclose a breakdown detailinginterest rates on outstanding federal student loans. A 2013 reportby the Center for American Progress, a Washington policy andadvocacy organization with close ties to Democrats, found thatabout 60 percent of all federal student loans carried interestrates above 6 percent.

Both proposals would have to overcome significant oppositionfrom conservative Republicans concerned about the cost of forgoinghigher future interest payments, said Brandon Barford, a partner atBeacon Policy Advisors in Washington. The federal student loanprogram is projected to generate billions of dollars in annualprofit for the foreseeable future, but those revenues depend onborrowers paying relatively high rates on their older debt.

Garamendi, the House bill’s author, has no sympathy for thatposition, nor for Navient and Nelnet, when it comes to high-ratefederal student loans that have buried American students foryears.

“They should lose,” he said of the companies, adding thatinvestors purchase loans and securities knowing that borrowers maypay off balances early.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Capitol Hill. Enactmentof a refinancing law could lead to lower revenue for Navient,potentially affecting jobs. And Navient has an office inReed’s congressional district — an office that’s scheduled to addan additional 300 jobs thanks to a new collection contract with theInternal Revenue Service.

That contract was announced with some fanfare in October by thesenior U.S. senator for New York, Charles Schumer. As the incomingSenate minority leader, Schumer is arguably the most powerfulDemocratic officeholder in the country and someone who may findhimself in a difficult position when it comes to student debtreform.

Earlier this year, he helped spearhead Democratic efforts toenact Warren’s refinancing plan, but a few months after thoseefforts failed, he lauded Navient’s expansion. He said he wentto bat for the company in discussions to secure additionalgovernment contract work after the Obamaadministration threatened to bar its debt collection unit fromthe federal student loan program. Schumer spokesman Matt Housedidn’t respond to a request for comment.

Garamendi said he’s trying to persuade his Republican colleaguesto back the House bill, and implied that Reed’s epiphany maybe his doing. For example, while Reed said as early as 2012 that hewas in favor of allowing student debtors to refinance, it took himseven months to sign on to Garamendi’s bill. The Republican’ssupport came after the Democrat’s staff shared its data withhim, Garamendi said.

“In discussions I have had with some of the most conservativeTea Party members, they say, ‘You know, this makes a lot ofsense,’” Garamendi said.

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