[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 508-509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SECRETARY OF EDUCATION NOMINEE BETSY DeVOS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I come to the House floor today to join my 
colleagues from the great State of Ohio. I come here because we have a 
statement that we want to make to voice to not only the citizens of 
Ohio but to this great country.
  I am honored to join Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Congresswoman 
Marcia Fudge, two women who have been in the battle for our citizens, 
but, more importantly, for our students, for education, and for our 
teachers.
  So today, Mr. Speaker, I demand that Betsy DeVos, President-elect 
Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, repay the $5.3 million--
yes, Mr. Speaker, I am going to say that again--$5.3 million in fines 
owed by her political action committee, All Children Matter, to my home 
State of Ohio.
  The PAC's contempt for Ohio campaign finance laws by illegally 
funneling contributions from a nationwide PAC to an unregistered Ohio 
affiliate is troublesome. And its refusal to pay these fines to the 
State of Ohio is disgraceful as the debt is nearly a decade old.
  Can you imagine what would happen if a student refused to pay 
something that they owed to a university or to the State? I don't have 
to answer that. We all know what would happen.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask: How can the public trust Ms. DeVos to ensure 
borrowers repay their student loans in a timely manner when the group 
she chaired failed to pay fines that were imposed nearly a decade ago? 
The fines owed to the State of Ohio--the $5.3 million--belongs to the 
taxpayers of Ohio. And every time, Mr. Speaker, I say $5.3 million, I 
am going to say it twice because she owes $5.3 million that belongs to

[[Page 509]]

the taxpayers of Ohio. This is money that could be used to pay for more 
teachers and other initiatives to help educate Ohio's children.
  We cannot let her skirt the system and cheat Ohio taxpayers. No, we 
cannot let her be nominated and confirmed to be over our educational 
system.
  I urge her to repay the $5.3 million in fines prior to her Senate 
confirmation hearing next week.

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