As borrower claims languish, House fails to override Trump's student loan forgiveness veto | Salon.com

As borrower claims languish, House fails to override Trump's student loan forgiveness veto | Salon.com

As borrower claims languish, House fails to override Trump's student loan forgiveness veto
The move comes as whistleblower allegations allege officials killed a loan forgiveness site for being too helpful

The House of Representatives failed Friday to override President Donald Trump's veto of a bipartisan bill which would have restored Obama-era regulations to the student loan borrower defense program.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos sought for years to dismantle the program, which offered financial relief to students deceived or defrauded by predatory institutions. A draconian rule she enacted last September rejected 95% of the first 17,000 applicants reviewed by the department.

The House and Senate issued a rare bipartisan rebuke of that rule. However, Congress could not muster enough votes to override Trump, who sided with DeVos against the majority of the legislative branch.

Friday's vote came as the Department of Education finds itself mired in settling a class-action lawsuit with a group of defrauded borrowers who successfully argued that the Trump administration illegally stonewalled nearly 200,000 pending applications for debt relief, some languishing for years.

DeVos was threatened with jail time last fall after continuing to collect student loan debts from individuals whose loans to a scandal-ridden and bankrupt for-profit college were legally voided. CONTINUE READING: As borrower claims languish, House fails to override Trump's student loan forgiveness veto | Salon.com