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The story looks at what President Clinton called "the biggest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill": the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which will pour $40 billion in tax breaks into the pockets of college students and their families. The story shed new light on: 1) the great extent to which politics shaped the policy making process; 2) what happened in the preceding months that led Mr. Clinton to make higher education the center of his tax bill strategy; 3) how Congress tried to shape the tax bill to focus on its own priorities for education -- including some personal ones; and 4) the intense disagreement among higher-education lobbyists about whether to embrace the Administration's plan, or risk angering a President viewed as an ally.