House committee subpoenas Cardona over delayed FAFSA implementation
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce subpoenaed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for the delayed implementation of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
'[T]he Biden-Harris administration is too concerned with hiding their incompetence to provide applicants with the certainty they need,' Chair Virginia Foxx said.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce subpoenaed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for the delayed implementation of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the committee chair, released the letter on July 25 and accused the department of not cooperating for months. As a result, Cardona must release applicable documents to the committee by Thursday.
“Though [the Government Accountability Office] has received some information and documents, many pending requests remain with the Department over four months later,” Foxx wrote. “[G]iven the lack of full responsiveness on these critical matters, the Committee has determined that compulsory measures are necessary.”
On May 31, Foxx and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote a letter accusing the department of “stonewalling” GAO and “interfering with our ability to carry out our constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities.”
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) opened an investigation into the department following a request from over two dozen Republican lawmakers. In a Jan. 24 letter, the lawmakers asked GAO to determine the scope of damage the Education Department caused to students, as well as what steps, if any, had the department taken to prevent these issues from happening again.
Foxx also believes that the department diverted resources from FAFSA’s release to “forgive” student loans, resulting in the delayed website release.
“Instead of taking these concerns seriously,” Foxx wrote in her May 31 letter, “the Biden Administration proceeded to channel extensive resources away from congressionally mandated responsibilities, including the return to repayment and FAFSA simplification, and toward projects that were not sanctioned by Congress at all, including the Biden Administration’s illegal loan forgiveness scheme.”
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Cardona denied these allegations during a chat at the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar, saying: “the idea we took resources away from this [FAFSA] to do that is false.”
”Enough is enough. Millions of students are relying on accurate information in order to determine their next steps, but the Biden-Harris administration is too concerned with hiding their incompetence to provide applicants with the certainty they need,” said Foxx in a press release after issuing the subpoena. “From refusals to update staff to blocking a GAO investigation, it’s clear that the Department of Education isn’t going to give its co-equal branch the relevant information willingly, so today’s subpoena is the only logical next step.”
Campus Reform has reached out to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
