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Inside Higher Education
Senate Might Rebuke DeVos on Borrower Defense
As Senate debates joining House in condemning Education Department rule
on forgiving student loans, key Republicans are on the fence.
By Kery Murakami
February 28, 2020
For all of President Trump’s controversial policies, it has been rare
for the Republican Senate to formally condemn the administration. But
lobbyists on both sides of the debate over U.S. Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos's borrower-defense rule say it’s increasingly possible that
the Republican Senate could join the Democratic House in rebuking the
administration over the rule critics say makes it harder for defrauded
students to have their education loans forgiven.
Lobbyists representing groups who support as well as oppose the rule
stop short of predicting that the resolution sponsored by Senate
Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois will pass. But they say several
Republicans are on the fence, making it possible that the proposal
could get the four Republican votes needed to pass.
Indeed, none of the eight moderate Republican senators, or those facing
tough re-election races, contacted this week would say they will oppose
the proposal. Instead aides either said the senators are undecided or
declined to say where they stand.
“I’m hearing the resolution is in play,” said Steve Gonzalez, senior
vice president of government, military and veterans' relations at
Career Education Colleges and Universities. The group, which represents
for-profit institutions, supports the rule and is lobbying against the
resolution of disapproval.
The same assessment came from the other side. “In a time where partisan
politics often is the headline of media stories, we are encouraged by
the number of Republican offices who are willing to stand with service
members, veterans, and their families,” emailed Carrie Wofford, a
former Senate health committee aide and now president of Veterans
Education Success, which is leading an effort by veterans' groups to
lobby in favor of the resolution. Though all types of students are
affected by the rule, it has faced particular opposition from veterans'
groups.
Federal regulations require that no more than 90 percent of a
for-profit institution's revenue come from federal student aid. But
veterans have been particularly targeted by for-profit institutions,
according to Wofford's group, because military education benefits do
not count as student aid.
The resolution, which passed the Democratic House in January, is likely
to be vetoed by Trump anyway. And Gonzalez dismissed it as mostly
political grandstanding.
“For Senator Durbin and many of its supporters, it’s just an
opportunity to throw egg on the administration’s face instead of doing
the right thing,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “This is more a gotcha
moment than actually trying to legislate.”
The resolution has substance, Veterans Education Success vice president
Tanya Ang responded. “This is not about the administration or about
partisan politics but rather about protecting students from schools who
have taken advantage of or lied to student veterans.”
Beth Stein, senior adviser at the Institute for College Access &
Success, wasn't willing to concede it would be vetoed. "The bipartisan
support for defrauded students and veterans demonstrated in the House
vote shows that the stories [members of Congress] from both parties
hear from borrowers who have been lied to matter to them. We will see
if the Senate and maybe even the President agree," she said in a
statement.
Giving supporters of the measure hope is that six Republicans crossed
party lines and backed the House measure. The Senate is required to
vote on the resolution, though it’s uncertain when, an aide to Durbin
said.
The Senate has passed similar resolutions opposing Trump’s policies
over at least three issues. Eleven Republicans in November 2019 backed
a resolution over his emergency declaration to access funds for a
border wall. In June 2019, seven Republicans voted in favor of a
resolution opposing arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other nations. Five
of them also supported a resolution against arms sales benefiting
Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other nations.
In March 2018, three Republicans joined Democrats to disapprove of the
Trump administration's replacement of net neutrality rules created
during the Obama administration.
While it would be unusual for Republicans to openly reject a Trump
administration policy, Gonzalez said some Republican senators facing
tough re-election races might be worried about opposing a measure
generating heated rhetoric.
In fact, Arizona Democratic Party spokesperson Brad Bainum on Thursday
attacked Republican senator Martha McSally, who hasn't disclosed her
position on the resolution and whose race against Democrat Mark Kelly
is considered a "toss-up" by the Cook Political Report. "Martha McSally
puts her party leaders and corporate interest donors first in
Washington, so it's no surprise that she's willing to let Betsy DeVos
sell out defrauded student borrowers after taking thousands from
for-profit schools and over $72,000 from DeVos' extended family,"
Bainum said in a statement. Neither McSally's campaign nor her Senate
office returned requests for comment.
The debate stems from a flood of loan-discharge applications after the
collapse of the for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges in 2015. In
response, the Obama administration clarified the government’s rules in
2016 to make it easier for students to get discharges.
For-profit institutions represented by Gonzalez’s group complained
about being singled out. Some institutions worried the rule would put
them on the hook for inadvertent marketing mistakes, as opposed to
intentionally misrepresenting such things as the employability of
graduates.
Balking, as well, at the Education Department's estimates that the rule
could cost $42 billion over the next decade, DeVos in August announced
her own rule.
While discharge applications currently fall under the Obama rule, those made after July 1 will come under DeVos’s tighter rules.
However, the rule is facing attack in Congress and the courts. Last
week, the Project on Predatory Student Lending and Public Citizen
Litigation Group jointly filed a federal lawsuit in New York that would
block it.
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