Fulcher Joins Call for DOJ Input on Education Department's Borrower Defense Anarchy

Statement

Today, Congressman Russ Fulcher joined Education and Labor Republicans on a letter urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to uphold the rule of law and resist the Department of Education's effort to abandon due process in their rewrite of the borrower defense to repayment rules.

In the letter, the Members write: "The Department, as you put it, must act with independence and integrity and through fairness and impartiality, in both substance and procedure."

The Members continue: "The Department of Education's recent efforts to revise the rules regarding borrower defense-to-repayment test the Department of Justice's dedication to these principles in several ways… These proposed regulations contravene any conceivable norms of due process. As the Acting Solicitor General wrote last year to the Supreme Court, "[t]he fundamental requirement of due process is the opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner."

The Members continue: "The Department of Education's contemplated regulatory changes will put the Department of Justice in the impossible position of defending a regulation that defies "common sense…' We request that the Department of Justice actively participate in the interagency review process to protect both the American people and the Department of Justice as an institution in American public life."

The letter is signed by: Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Agriculture Committee Republican Leader Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Republican Leader Rick Allen (R-GA), Republican Study Committee Chair Jim Banks (R-IN), Oversight and Reform Committee Republican Leader James Comer (R-KY), Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee Republican Leader Russ Fulcher (R-ID), Workforce Protections Subcommittee Republican Leader Fred Keller (R-PA), Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee Republican Leader Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Republican Leader Burgess Owens (R-UT), Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI).

Source