DeVos rebuked in bipartisan Senate vote over limiting student debt relief
Source: POLITICO
Ten Republicans voted to block DeVos’ rule.
03/11/2020 01:40 PM EDT
The Senate on Wednesday issued a strong bipartisan rebuff to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, passing legislation to block her policy that makes it tougher for defrauded student loan borrowers to have their debts forgiven.
Ten Republican senators broke with the Trump administration and joined with Democrats on a 53-42 vote to overturn DeVos’ rewrite of the Obama-era “borrower defense” rule, which governs debt relief for students whose colleges engaged in misconduct.
The measure, which cleared the House last month, now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk. The White House has threatened a veto of the legislation, which did not garner a veto-proof majority in either chamber.
But Trump told Republican senators during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday that he was “neutral” on the resolution, according to several individuals familiar with the remarks. During the meeting, Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, told Trump that he opposed the resolution and was defending the Trump administration’s own policy.
“I have sort of a neutral position,” Trump responded, according to people in the room. “I’m in between.”
Trump told senators that he hoped that DeVos would be able to address any concerns with the rule. Trump later indicated that he actually was in favor of DeVos’ regulation after speaking with her on the phone, according to a Senate GOP aide.
A White House spokesperson did not dispute Trump’s remarks but pointed to the Statement of Administration Policy issued in February. The statement says that Trump’s advisers would recommend he veto the resolution. Asked for comment, an Education Department spokesperson pointed to the same statement.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted to block DeVos' rule, said that the Trump administration's policy "makes it difficult for students to know whether they’ve been a victim of their college’s misrepresentation in the first place.".......................
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/11/betsy-devos-senate-vote-student-debt-relief-125826
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