Press Releases

Today, House Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Republican Leader Richard Burr (R-NC) sent a letter to Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona following the Department’s release of its 750-page Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), requesting additional time for public comment on the far-reaching—and costly—changes to federal student loan programs.

In the letter, the lawmakers write: “This NPRM proposes sweeping changes to federal student loan programs which are estimated to cost the American taxpayer $85.1 billion and are buried within 750 pages of bureaucratic legalese. Therefore, we write today to oppose the Department’s push for a rule of such magnitude without giving Congress and the public sufficient time to consider such changes.”

“The Department claims the proposed regulations ‘make critical improvements to student loan discharge programs and make student loans more affordable for borrowers.’ In reality, the Department is trying to regulate its way out of following duly enacted laws and to further usurp the power of the purse assigned to Congress by the U.S. Constitution…” the lawmakers continue.

“It is evident this proposal is part of a frenzied effort to meet a campaign promise to forgive as much debt as possible before the November midterms. In doing so, this proposal seeks to override the legislative process and ignore input from the American people,” the lawmakers conclude.

Read the full letter here.

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