Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been publicly campaigning for Biden for months to take executive action to eradicate $ 50,000 in student loan debt per borrower. Biden turned down the idea, despite the fact that the White House has announced that it is still exploring its options.
But Warren’s influence on the Kvaal nomination does not go beyond the $ 50,000 student waiver proposal, according to the source. Instead, Warren seeks concessions on longstanding issues raised with the Department of Education’s implementation of the student loan program.
Warren’s staff are negotiating with the Biden administration over a “number of necessary reforms in the higher education sector, including the administration of the student loan program,” the source said.
Earlier this year, Warren urged the Department of Education to lay off two of the largest companies it hires to obtain student loans – Navient and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency – for their repeated failures in treating borrowers.
Warren and other Democrats in Congress have also urged the Biden administration to detail how it intends to resume monthly payments from millions of student loan borrowers that were frozen during the pandemic.
Kvaal was a senior domestic policy advisor to the Obama White House and most recently headed the Institute for College Access and Success, an advocacy group. The Senate HELP Committee put forward its nomination in April with overwhelming bipartisan support with 19-3 votes.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the agency had worked with the Senate offices and was “encouraged by the discussions and developments surrounding the James Kvaal nomination.”
“We share the same goals in order to make the Federal Office for Student Aid more consumer-friendly and to stand up for student borrowers. Because of this, we have taken several steps to achieve this goal, including providing nearly $ 3 billion in targeted loan facilities and engaging Richard Cordray as chief operating officer, “the spokesman said in a statement.
Bloomberg previously reported that an unnamed Democratic Senator blocked Kvaal’s nomination.
The nomination delay is due to the fact that the Ministry of Education has begun developing an ambitious higher education agenda, which Kvaal would lead if confirmed. The Biden administration has announced that it will rewrite the rules for some existing student loan assistance programs and restore the Obama-era policies of for-profit colleges.
During his nomination hearing, Kvaal said the Biden administration’s priorities for student debt relief are temporary loan cancellation in response to a pandemic, the establishment of the public service loan program, and the debt settlement of “low-income borrowers.” and high debts ”.
Kvaal would also bring key higher education policy experiences to the Ministry of Education that are lacking in the agency’s top positions. Both Miguel Cardona, the secretary, and Cindy Marten, the assistant secretary, have mainly focused on K-12 schools.
Warren has long criticized the Department of Education’s oversight of the student loan program under both the Trump and Obama administrations.
But in the Biden administration she has already achieved several important personnel successes in the Ministry of Education.
Cordray, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an ally of Warren, now oversees the department’s federal student aid office. Julie Margetta Morgan, a former Senior Education Counsel to Warren, is also a top advisor to the agency and serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Education.
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/warren-stalls-bidens-higher-education-pick-over-student-loan-policies/
No comments:
Post a Comment