New top Republicans on education committees take aim at Biden student loan programs in first acts
Jeremiah Poff
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The senior Republicans on the House and Senate education committees are calling on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to extend the public comment period for proposed regulations on the income-driven repayment program by 30 days.
In a letter sent to the Department of Education on Thursday and provided exclusively to the Washington Examiner, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, requested that the department extend the public comment period from its initial 30-day window to the standard practice of 60 days.
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The letter is among the first action items for Cassidy and Foxx since they took over as ranking member and chairwoman of their respective committees and provides a preview of the Republican policy priorities in the new Congress. Cassidy replaced Sen. Richard Burr, who retired earlier this year, while Foxx was elevated to chairwoman after previously serving as the ranking member.
The proposed regulations, released last month, would make substantial changes to the Income Driven Repayment program, which allows federal student loan borrowers to make payments based on their income level, often prolonging repayment. The current rules require borrowers on an IDR plan to pay 10% of their discretionary income, defined as income above the poverty line, and allows for loans to be entirely forgiven after 20 years if certain conditions are met.
The Biden administration seeks to reduce the 10% of discretionary income requirement down to 5%. Borrowers who took out $12,000 or less in loans would also be eligible for total forgiveness after 10 years, with an extra month added on for each $1,000 borrowed above the threshold.
“We write today to oppose the Department’s push for a rule of such magnitude without giving Congress and the public sufficient time to consider such changes,” wrote Cassidy and Foxx. “For this reason, we request an extension of the public comment period by no less than an additional 30 days.”
The letter notes that a Clinton-era executive order had recommended most regulations undergo a public comment period of 60 days before being finalized, a standard that has been applied inconsistently by the Biden administration.
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“Putting aside the galling overreach in the proposal, more time to comment is necessary to address the proposed rule because the Department’s impact analysis does not add up,” they wrote. “The Department estimates the cost of the rule to the American taxpayer will be $138 billion. Yet, previous Congressional Budget Office estimates for less generous changes to income-driven repayment programs than those proposed by this administration showed costs that were much higher. A non-partisan student loan expert has estimated that the true cost of the NPRM could be $1 trillion.”