Provide Consumer Protections for Students

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HAYES. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 76, a resolution of disapproval of the Secretary of Education's new borrower defense rule.

This rule guts consumer protections for students and taxpayers and makes it more difficult for students to access relief for loans obtained for degrees that have no value.

Over 1,200 students in Connecticut have been defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges like Corinthian and ITT Tech and still await relief. The Department has made the approval process more difficult, leaving hundreds of thousands of students desperately waiting for answers.

Too many first-generation, low-income students, student veterans, and students of color are lured into these fraudulent schools that prioritize profits over helping students advance their education.

The DeVos rule eliminates automatic closed school discharges and weakens the early warning system that forces institutions to invest in the potential debt relief. It puts a greater burden of proof on students, barring them from relief if they cannot file their claims fast enough.

As a career educator who truly understands the equalizing power of education, I say it is unconscionable that the Department of Education and the Secretary do not feel a moral imperative to protect students.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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