Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is asking the Education Department to skirt its rules and make an exception to provide federal dollars to a college in his home state — even though a high percentage of its graduates defaulted on their students loans for the last three years.

McConnell’s move is part of a larger debate about the criteria to determine whether a college should receive federal funding or be cut off. Currently, the Education Department uses data on what is known as the cohort default rate — or how many of a college’s graduates default on their loans — to decide whether the school is a good investment for taxpayer money.

Some lawmakers have said schools with high student loan default rates should lose federal funding. But McConnell, as well as the Obama administration and loan experts, have questioned whether that method takes the school’s circumstances into account.

In September, the Senate Appropriations Committee added to a bill funding the Education Department language from McConnell encouraging Secretary Betsy DeVos to provide flexibility on default rates to schools in economically depressed regions.

McConnell’s amendment doesn’t name any schools, but would apply to a very specific area that includes Harlan County, Kentucky, home of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College.