Can't blame Obama for this one, I'm afarid. The program to pay off student loan debt of bureaucrats began in 2002 under Bush.

In 2007, 6,600 federal employees had you to thank for getting them out from under their student loan debt. This, despite the fact that the original rationale used by the Bush administration for the program - top professionals were scarce and the program was a needed incentive - has disappeared.

Elizabeth Williamson of the Wall Street Journal has the details:

Any agency employee who isn't a political appointee is eligible to have federally insured student loans repaid under the program. Because the repayments are considered a recruitment or retention incentive, agency managers determine who receives the perk and how much is repaid. The decisions are guided by a plan that each agency must have in place.

Carol Sladek, head of the work-life consulting practice at Hewitt Associates, a human-resources consulting company in Lincolnshire, Ill., called student-loan repayments an unusual benefit. "I have never heard of that practice in the private sector, much less in this economy," she said.

Kyle Anderson, spokesman for the House Committee on Administration, which oversees the House program, said, "Top-notch talent has options, and government service, certainly at the entry level, pays significantly less than comparable positions in other sectors."

The House and Senate will spend $18 million this year repaying staffers' student loans. Last year, while criticizing corporations that pay lavish benefits during hard times, House lawmakers nearly doubled what the government can pay for their staffers' college bills. The yearly maximum repayment is $10,000 in fiscal 2009, which ends Sept. 30, up from $6,000 in fiscal 2008, with a lifetime maximum of $60,000, the same as in the executive branch. The House appropriated $13 million in 2009 for the program; as of last month, more than 2,200 House employees were getting the money.