[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  For-Profit Colleges and Universities

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, we are likely to postpone a vote this 
week that had been scheduled on a Congressional Review Act resolution 
of disapproval relative to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's new 
borrower defense rule. I would like to explain the background behind 
this procedure. Although it is likely it will be postponed until after 
our 1-week President's Day recess, I still think Members should reflect 
on the importance of this measure.
  In 1992 Congress added a provision to the Higher Education Act that 
allowed student borrowers who were defrauded by their schools to have 
their Federal student loans discharged. Here is what it boiled down to: 
The Federal Government recognizes the accreditation of colleges and 
universities. With that recognition, those colleges and universities 
can offer Federal loans to the students who attend. So there is a 
partnership that begins this process and this relationship, and the 
partnership is a seal of approval by the Federal Government in the 
authorization of Federal loans.
  What we found was that some of the institutions that were given 
permission to authorize Federal student loans for those attending their 
institutions, in fact, were lying to their students. So the students 
were in a situation where they incurred a debt in student loans for 
promises made by a college or university that turned out to be false.
  We said that under the law, that is not fair to the student and the 
student's family. Those students can be discharged from federal student 
debt if, in fact, that college or university defrauded them.
  What would be a typical fraud? To invite students to enroll in your 
college with the promise that the courses they take in that college 
would be transferrable, that the credits are transferrable to another 
school, and then it turns out to be a lie; the promise that if you 
complete a certain number of courses in the school, you will have 
satisfied the requirements for licensure for nursing, for example, and 
that turns out to be a lie; or the possibility that you would finish 
the courses of this school and get a job in a certain field.
  Great promises were made to the students, and it turns out they were 
lies. In those circumstances, students--many of whom are young and 
facing the first serious financial decision of their lives--were misled 
and defrauded. We said that under the law, those students should have 
an opportunity to discharge their student loan.
  It is bad enough they were lied to, bad enough they wasted their 
time, and bad enough they had a college experience that didn't make 
life better for them, but to be saddled with debt because that school 
lied to them and defrauded them is unacceptable. The process for having 
their loans discharged is called borrower defense.
  Under President Obama, we found that many schools--almost exclusively 
for-profit universities such as Corinthian, ITT, and others--lied to 
students about what their experience would be if they went there. So 
the students, saddled with debt, having been lied to, went to the 
Department of Education to have that debt discharged. There was some 
success in that, but then came the new President.
  President Trump, with his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, took a 
much different view and has ignored the claims of these students for 
discharge of their student loans. They started stacking up, and nearly 
230,000 students from across the United States who were looking for 
this borrower defense relief from their student loans, after having 
been lied to and defrauded by these colleges and universities, just 
found no response whatsoever from the Trump administration and from 
Education Secretary DeVos. As a consequence, they asked Members of 
Congress to intervene, and we tried but with no success.
  Then Secretary DeVos took this decisive step in changing the rules 
for future students. Do you know what she said? She said to these 
students: In the future, if you want relief from student debt from 
being defrauded, prove your case. Lawyer-up. Get your lawyer, and let's 
have a hearing.
  Well, understand that these students--young and in debt to start 
with--are not likely to turn around and hire a lawyer to prove 
Corinthian, in its catalogues and representations to students, for 
example, misrepresented the education they were offering.
  Under the previous administration, that could be established in 
evidence, and all the students affected by it could use that evidence. 
Under the DeVos administration, it is an individual burden of proof to 
qualify for borrower defense. So that will leave many students with no 
recourse. As a consequence, they will be stuck with the debt for a 
worthless education or one that didn't meet as promised.
  More than 223,000 claims are pending before the Department. Many of 
them have been waiting for years. The claims come from every State in 
the Union--large, small, red, blue and purple--and they are not going 
to stop. These claims have led to this CRA, this Congressional Review 
Act resolution of disapproval.
  I doubt that we are going to be taking it up this week, so I am going 
to withhold making a presentation on this until we return after the 
President's Day recess. But I want to make one last point. We are not 
just bringing this up on behalf of students; we are bringing this 
matter before the Senate on behalf of veterans. Student veterans.
  The American Legion of the United States has stepped up and said to 
us that veterans have been defrauded just like the students we are 
talking about on the floor of the Senate.
  If you believe in these veterans and these military families who are 
stuck with student loan debt because of lies from colleges and 
universities, I urge my colleagues to think twice and join us in this 
effort to stop the DeVos rules and give our veterans a fighting chance 
not to be burdened with this unfair debt.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.