In a speech before a group of career-college executives and lobbyists, freshman Representative Jason Altmire hinted that he would look out for the sector's interests in a coming conference between the House of Representatives and the Senate on legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Referring to a provision in the bill that would change how the government measures default rates on student loans, he promised that House members would consider stripping the proposal out of the legislation or "at least making it as acceptable as possible." As for-profit colleges seek to strengthen their ties with the relatively new Democratic majority, they are reaching out to freshmen, like Mr. Altmire, who weren't around Congress in the 1980s and 1990s, when hundreds of for-profit colleges went out of business. While it doesn't appear that the Congressional newcomers have taken the lead on for-profit issues in the higher-education reauthorization bill, for-profit lobbyists say the freshmen have provided key behind-the-scenes backing for the sector's more senior supporters.