Congressional Record—Senate S1649
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March 10, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1649 The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without I yield the floor. that misrepresentation. What this objection, it is so ordered. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. meant is, if you went to a school that Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, CRAMER). The Senator from Tennessee. had misled students, your loan could be later today the Senate will be taking Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, if forgiven even if you had a job making up the borrower defense CRA vote and your car is a lemon, you don’t sue the $85,000 a year. likely voting on it tomorrow. Each and bank; you sue the dealer. A college can Under the Trump administration, every Senator will have a choice. They be a lemon, just like a car can be. A each student needs to file a claim, can side with working students, or college could promise a potential stu- prove that they were defrauded and they can side with predatory, for-profit dent a job and then tell them that 50 that they were financially harmed, and colleges. It should not be a hard choice, percent of their students scored per- then their loan would be forgiven by and that choice certainly should not be fectly on their SAT tests. The poten- the taxpayer. Remember, the bank is partisan. tial student might use that informa- the taxpayer. Students who were cheated and de- tion to take out student loans and en- Secretary DeVos’s borrower defense frauded by predatory, for-profit col- roll in a college. Then, if the informa- rule restores the original intent of the leges are often left with crushing debt tion turns out to be false, the student law that a borrower must be misled and no path forward. That is why may be stuck with student loans they and harmed. President Obama issued the borrower can’t afford to repay. Unlike a car, if The new rule establishes a fair and defense rule—to help students move your college is a lemon, you do sue the clear process as to what a borrower forward with their lives and education bank, and the bank is the taxpayer. must demonstrate: No. 1, that the and to get the debt relief they so ur- Today, Democrats are forcing the school misled them; No. 2, that the stu- gently need. Senate to vote on a Congressional Re- dent relied on that information to en- Since taking office, Secretary DeVos view Act that, if passed, would over- roll in the school; and No. 3, that the has put up roadblock after roadblock turn the Trump administration’s bor- student was financially harmed. The for students and borrowers. First, she rower defense rule. This process allows new rule gives the borrower ample time refused to implement the borrower de- a borrower of a Federal student loan to to submit a claim and ensures that the fense rule that was on the books, until have their loan forgiven if their insti- Department is basing their judgment a court forced her to. She stalled on tution misled them and that misrepre- on all available information. The DeVos rule also protects the tax- debt relief for hundreds of thousands of sentation led to financial harm. borrowers who were left waiting for an First, if your college closes, it is im- payers who spend roughly $100 billion a answer, with tens of thousands of them portant for you to know that your year on Federal student loans. It con- falling into default and collections. loans are forgiven. Let me say that tinues to allow the Secretary to recoup Once again, the Federal courts were again. If your college closes, it is im- funds from an institution that has de- forced to step in. portant for you to know that your stu- frauded or misled borrowers. It encour- Now Secretary DeVos is trying to dent loan is forgiven. ages borrowers and the institution to deny full relief to students who were There are about 6,000 colleges and resolve issues directly rather than in- clearly cheated by predatory colleges. universities in our country, and 783 of volving the Federal Government. For so many people, getting relief on And the new rule allows the Depart- them closed in 2018. For example, when your student debt means the difference ment to evaluate the level of harm to Corinthian College closed, that made a between making ends meet or not, the each individual borrower filing the lot of news. Many students, though, difference between paying your rent or claim and forgives the appropriate transferred to another college. But if not, and the difference between getting amount. For example, if you were told they didn’t transfer, they weren’t back on your feet or not. by the school that you would make stuck with their student loans; their Now, to make matters even worse, $45,000 a year when you graduated, but Secretary DeVos has gone further than loans were forgiven. We are not talking about that today you are only making $40,000, the De- just delaying and limiting the relief. partment could decide to forgive a part She has issued a disastrous new bor- when we vote. If your college isn’t clos- ing but it does defraud or mislead you, of your loan. rower defense rule intentionally de- The Obama administration’s rules then you can file a claim. You can file signed to make it harder for defrauded went too far and allowed borrowers to a claim to have your loan forgiven, and borrowers—defrauded borrowers—to have their loans forgiven whether or you file it with the U.S. Department of get relief even when predatory colleges not they had actually suffered finan- Education. clearly violated the law. It will prevent cial harm. Secretary DeVos’s new bor- There are 42 million Americans with students from getting their day in rower defense rule restores the original an outstanding Federal student loan. court and let predatory colleges off the intent of the law that the borrower In 2018, about 106,000 of those 42 million hook financially. This rule says, in the must be misled and harmed. fine print, that students will be stuck Americans filed what we call borrower I encourage Senators to vote against repaying 97 percent of their fraudulent defense claims. They claimed they today’s Congressional Review Act. debt. The Department even admitted were misled by the college when they I yield the floor. used their student loan to go to that that students will be cheated out of f $2.5 billion per year, and students will college. only get 3 cents back for every dollar In November 2016, the Obama admin- RECESS of fraud they experience. That is cruel istration issued a rule that required a The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under and wrong. borrower to demonstrate only that the previous order, the Senate stands The Congressional Review Act, or they had been misled, not that they in recess until 2:10 p.m. CRA, would immediately halt Sec- had been financially harmed. The Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:31 p.m., retary DeVos’s rule in its tracks and Trump administration fixes that overly recessed until 2:10 p.m. and reassem- prevent it from going into effect. broad regulation, while still protecting bled when called to order by the Pre- It is time to put an end to the non- borrowers and the taxpayer. siding Officer (Mrs. CAPITO). stop efforts by this administration to Here is the difference. Under the f prioritize the interests of predatory, Obama administration, if one student for-profit schools over the interests of had filed a claim and proved that he or ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVA- our students. It is time for Senators to she had been defrauded, all the other TION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019— decide, once and for all, if they will students in that program had to do was Continued support our student loan borrowers attest they had been misled in a simi- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- who have been cheated out of a quality lar way before having their loans for- ator from New Mexico. education or help corrupt institutions given as well. It was sort of a class ac- UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—H.R. 1 with their bottom line. tion. Mr. UDALL. Madam President, it has I want to personally thank Senator It was unnecessary for the first stu- been 1 year since the House of Rep- DURBIN for his tireless efforts to push dent or subsequent students to prove resentatives passed the most com- this important issue forward. they had been financially harmed by prehensive package of anti-corruption VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:06 Mar 11, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G10MR6.014 S10MRPT1 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with SENATE S1650 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 10, 2020 reforms since Watergate—1 year. H.R. 1 lican Governors and attorneys general tives, Congressman SARBANES, who is shines a light on secret campaign con- are urging the Supreme Court to strike the lead sponsor of H.R. 1, which is the tributions, makes it easier to vote, and down the Affordable Care Act. For the People Act. It passed the House cleans up corruption in Washington. It The American people want exorbi- of Representatives over a year ago, and is the solution to the gridlock that the tant prescription drug prices reeled in. there has been no action on the floor of American people are tired of in our Na- Eighty percent of Americans think the the Senate as a result of the majority tion’s Capital.