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) are requesting an explanation from Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona following reports that a radical lobbying group is influencing higher education policies.  

In the letter, the Members write: “It is very troubling to learn that the Department appears to be following advice from activists to inappropriately target an important sector in postsecondary education. There has been public reporting on a meeting between Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray and the Debt Collective to discuss a memo the organization provided on closing private institutions of higher education without congressional authorization.”

The Members continue: “When the conversation on quality is premised on the tax status of an institution, it is distracted from the most important metric to focus on: student success. …[A]rbitrarily targeting for-profit institutions, while ignoring the atrocious outcomes of their non-profit or public peers, illustrates this administration is more focused on partisan politics than the success of our nation’s students.”

Additionally, the Members write: “The evidence that the Department is following the recommendations of an outside memo to dismantle career colleges is deeply concerning. The insinuation that the Department believes it has the authority to take these grievous actions without Congressional approval is downright alarming.”

Read the full letter here.