Foxx Asks Cardona Point Blank: Should Antisemitic Student Protesters Have Their Loans Forgiven?

5 months ago

At today's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) questioned Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about student loan forgiveness.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you.

00:01 [Mrs. Maloney.] Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

00:05 Under Committee Rule 9, we will now question the witness

00:08 under the 5-minute rule. I ask members to keep your questions

00:12 succinct so the witness has time to answer.

00:16 I now recognize myself for 5 minutes of questioning.

00:21 Mr. Secretary, you have been proudly volunteering the

00:23 taxpayers to take on the student loan debt of largely wealthy

00:28 college graduates. Do you believe that students who spend

00:31 their time in college calling for the destruction of an

00:35 ethnic or religious group or spend their time preventing

00:37 students of particular ethnic or religious groups from walking

00:41 around campus freely or spend their time occupying campus

00:44 buildings deserve to have their education paid for by

00:48 taxpayers?

00:49 [Mr. Chaffetz.] I couldn't hear you that well, but if

00:54 you are making reference to the student debt relief plan that

00:57 we have done, I am really proud of the work that we are doing

01:01 to provide a lifeline for students who chose to go to college

01:05 and are living----

01:06 [Mrs. Maloney.] But I am talking about the students who

01:09 are being anti-Semitic and stopping Jewish students from being

01:13 able to go to class and threatening them. Do you want to have

01:18 the taxpayers pay their loans off?

01:21 [Mr. Chaffetz.] I believe that students who are breaking

01:24 the law and are disrupting the educational environment should

01:30 be held to account. I believe it is important that all students

01:32 have access to their higher education classes and graduation.

01:37 [Mrs. Maloney.] Well, then, will you commit to ensuring

01:39 that no student who has harassed other students or prevented

01:42 other students from going to class or broken laws receives any

01:46 form of student loan forgiveness?

01:48 [Mr. Chaffetz.] We are committed to making sure that

01:50 campuses are safe. I condemn any form of hate or any violence

01:54 on campus. I have spoken to students and educators who have

01:59 experienced that, and it is our responsibility----

02:01 [Mrs. Maloney.] But we would like you to follow through

02:02 on those who do break the law and make sure they don't receive

02:07 student loan forgiveness.

02:09 Mr. Secretary, the COO at FSA needs to have a deep and vast

02:13 knowledge of how loan operations work, given FSA is de facto

02:19 the largest consumer bank in the country. Indeed, the

02:23 performance-based organization statute contemplates high

02:28 expectations of the COO. The COO needs to be an operational

02:34 and lending expert and have a keen understanding of massive

02:38 lending operations. Will you commit to finding a replacement

02:42 for Richard Cordray, who has real-world experience leading a

02:46 massive lending operation so that we can be assured that the

02:50 financial interests of the taxpayers are protected?

02:54 [Mr. Chaffetz.] Thank you for the question. I am committed

02:57 to making sure we have a chief operating officer that has

02:59 experience, and I look forward to working with you on a process

03:03 to select.

03:04 [Mrs. Maloney.] Thank you.

03:05 In a similar vein, since September 19, 2023, I have been

03:08 asking for the performance bonus for FY22 of COO Cordray and

03:14 FY23 for senior FSA staff, including COO Cordray. This has

03:20 been met with delay after delay after delay. This should not be

03:24 hard, as these bonuses are required to be made public. If I

03:28 do not receive the information requested by noon on the 14th,

03:33 you will be facing a subpoena.

03:36 As I mentioned earlier, FSA is a performance-based organization

03:40 and has the ability to award bonuses to select employees,

03:44 including the chief operating officer. Did the errors that

03:48 KPMG found in FY2022 and FY2023 in conducting the Department's

03:55 financial audits result in a reduction or elimination of

03:58 bonuses paid to senior department and FSA staff?

04:02 [Mr. Chaffetz.] Thank you for the question.

04:03 [Mrs. Maloney.] Simple answer, yes or no.

04:06 [Mr. Chaffetz.] Thank you for the question, Chairwoman Foxx.

04:08 We take responding to your request very seriously and will

04:12 continue to share information with you. I will make sure that

04:15 we are communicating with your team on a timeline for providing

04:19 you the information.

04:20 [Mrs. Maloney.] Did the audit have an impact on the bonuses,

04:24 yes or no?

04:25 [Mr. Chaffetz.] Within the communication, I would make sure

04:28 that the answer to your question is there. I can tell you that

04:31 we take, you know, the audit information that we receive very

04:37 seriously.

04:38 [Mrs. Maloney.] What are the practical consequences of the

04:40 Department's failure to obtain a clean audit for each of the

04:45 last two years?

04:46 [Mr. Chaffetz.] Well, you know, we recognize how important it

04:50 is to work with our auditors, and we have gotten disclaimers

04:53 of opinions in the past. And we are continuing to work with our

04:57 auditors to make sure that the information they provide us is

05:00 used as we continue to improve practices every year.

05:03 [Mrs. Maloney.] On March 6th, I transmitted a letter to you

05:08 voicing my concerns about the Department's 16 percent

05:12 occupancy rate. It has been 2 months since I wrote to you

05:15 about, and 3 and a half months since the White House Chief of

05:19 Staff requested you and other Federal Department leaders

05:22 submit a return to office action plan. Will you commit to me

05:26 today you will provide the information and documents that I

05:29 requested no later than May 17th?

05:31 [Mr. Chaffetz.] I absolutely commit to providing you that

05:35 information as quickly as possible, I hope before May 17th.

05:41 And I know that we have increased those numbers

05:44 significantly. So I am proud of the progress we are making.

05:47 [Mrs. Maloney.] Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

05:50 I now recognize Mr. Courtney for 5 minutes.

05:55 [Mr. Courtney.] Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Foxx Asks Cardona Point Blank: Should Antisemitic Student Protesters Have Their Loans Forgiven?

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