Trump picks a side: DeVos over military veterans and other low-income students
After more than 1,200 days in office, President Donald Trump issued his first presidential veto of domestic legislation last week.
The legislation that provoked his unique ire? A bipartisan resolution, passed by the House and Senate this spring, that would have helped low-income Americans, including many military veterans, to restart their lives after being defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges.
With his rare veto, Trump opted to stand with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and against three dozen veterans’ groups that had urged him to support their access to student loan forgiveness.
In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had sent Trump the bipartisan resolution to sign, called his veto “an act of staggering cruelty.”
The bipartisan resolution that Trump vetoed was Congress’ effort to stop DeVos’ September 2019 revision of the federal Borrower Defense of Repayment rule. This 30-year-old federal rule enables students who have been defrauded by for-profit colleges to get relief from the federal government in the form of student loan cancellation or forgiveness.
Because of their access to G.I. Bill benefits, which they gain through service to their country, many of the defrauded students are military veterans, who unfortunately have been seen as cash cows by predatory, for-profit colleges.
“President Trump’s veto of my bipartisan bill to help our veterans was a victory for Education Secretary DeVos and the fraud merchants at the for-profit colleges,” said Senator Richard J. CONTINUE READING: Trump picks a side: DeVos over military veterans and other low-income students - Education Votes
