This study examines policy discourse surrounding a policy process to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the most significant federal policy concerning higher education, a decade following the previous reauthorization. Guided by the theory of social construction and policy design, we draw on data from 14 hours of deliberation in a congressional hearing and employ policy discourse analysis. The findings shed light on which populations policymakers address in their discourse, how they portray various groups as deserving or undeserving of policy benefits, how they rationalize the allocation of burdens and benefits through policy, and how these portrayals differ between political parties.