The Senate was moving Monday toward passage of a five-year reauthorization of the primary law governing federal aid to institutions of higher education and the students who attend them. A final vote was possible as early as day’s end.

By mid-afternoon, senators had adopted four amendments to the bill (S 1642) by voice vote, leaving eight more amendments eligible for consideration later in the day. The measure is a bipartisan compromise put together by Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and ranking Republican Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming.

The bill is a follow-up to a bill (HR 2669) the Senate passed early July 20 that would substantially reduce subsidies to private lenders and boost aid to college students through increases in the maximum Pell grant, loan forgiveness for graduates who enter public sector careers and a variety of other measures. That bill sped through the Senate under special budget “reconciliation” procedural protections.

“The reconciliation bill was only a small piece of the Higher Education Act,” Enzi said. “Without considering both bills, we would only be doing part of the job.”

While the House has passed its version of the student loan bill, no full Higher Education Act reauthorization bill has moved in that chamber.