Trump backs DeVos plan to limit student debt relief

President Donald Trump on Friday sided with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her plans to make it harder to forgive the debt of defrauded student loan borrowers.

Trump vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have blocked a policy by DeVos that limits debt relief for defrauded student loan borrowers.

Trump backed DeVos over the objections of veterans organizations, which had urged him to sign the measure to stop a regulation that they said makes it too difficult for their members to obtain help if they are cheated by their colleges.

But Trump said in a veto message that he was standing by DeVos' rule because it would "protect students and taxpayers." He said the policy would create "a fair process" that "will deliver deserved relief to students harmed by their education institutions."

It’s the eighth time that Trump has vetoed legislation since taking office — and the first on a domestic policy issue.

The Congressional Review Act resolution now heads back to Congress, where it is unlikely either the House or Senate will be able to override Trump’s veto.

House leaders are preparing for an override vote July 1, but it doesn’t appear that they have the votes to do so. The legislation initially cleared the House in January on a 231-180 vote, far short of the two-thirds majority needed.

In the Senate, the measure similarly did not pass by a veto-proof margin, even though 10 Republicans broke with DeVos and joined with Democrats on a 53-42 vote in March. It’s unclear whether Senate leaders will bring up an override vote.

The White House had previously threatened a veto of the legislation as it moved through the House and Senate earlier this year. But Trump told GOP senators during a private meeting that he was “neutral” on the resolution.

Veterans groups lobbied furiously to get Trump to sign the measure, airing TV ads on Fox News about the issue this week.

In a statement on Friday before the veto, James “Bill” Oxford, the national commander of the American Legion, said that the group was “hoping that President Trump will once again come to the aid of student veterans,” and that DeVos’ rule made it “nearly impossible for veterans to successfully” obtain loan forgiveness if they were deceived by a school.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, who led the effort to overturn DeVos' rule, called Trump's veto "a victory for Education Secretary DeVos and the fraud merchants at the for-profit colleges." He added: "My question to the President: in four days did you forget those flag waving Memorial Day speeches as you vetoed a bill the veterans were begging for?”

Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), who was the lead sponsor of the resolution in the House, said Trump's veto "sent a message to the American people that he cares more about enriching predatory schools than protecting defrauded students and veterans."

Trump’s veto, barring a successful override, clears the path for DeVos’ rule to take effect on July 1, as scheduled. DeVos’ rule revises Obama-era standards for debt relief, known as “borrower defense,” which were finalized in 2016 in response to misconduct by for-profit colleges.

DeVos last fall finalized a rewrite of the Obama-era rule, criticizing the previous administration’s approach as providing a “free money” giveaway to students at the expense of taxpayers.

DeVos’ policy sets more stringent standards for when the government wipes out the debt of students who claim that they were misled or deceived by their colleges. It will apply to all future loans disbursed starting in July.

The Education Department estimated that the stricter rules will reduce loan forgiveness by hundreds of millions of dollars each year, compared with the Obama-era policy, saving taxpayers more than $11 billion over the next decade.

The Obama-era regulation was aimed at providing relief to borrowers. DeVos and some conservative critics said that the standard was too broad, costly to taxpayers and punished inadvertent mistakes by colleges.

The Trump administration’s new rule will also scrap an Obama-era policy that largely prohibits colleges that receive federal aid from requiring their students to settle disputes through arbitration — rather than through a court or class-action lawsuit against the school.

DeVos began fighting the Obama-era regulations as soon as she took office and has for more than three years pushed to reverse the previous administration’s approach to loan forgiveness.

DeVos sought to delay the regulations, only to be shot down by a federal court last year, which ruled she illegally postponed them. She’s also repeatedly sparred with Democrats, who have accused her of being stingy and unfair to struggling students.