Congress sends rebuke of DeVos ‘borrower defense’ rule to Trump’s desk

The bipartisan rebuke of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ “borrower defense” rule that cleared Congress earlier this year is now heading to President Donald Trump’s desk.

House and Senate leaders on Tuesday enrolled the Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn DeVos’ new rule. That final procedural step now means that legislation will be presented to the White House for Trump’s signature or veto.

“Proud to send @RepSusieLee’s bipartisan resolution to the President’s desk and protect tens of thousands of defrauded students, many of whom are hurting now more than ever, by blocking Devos’s harmful student borrower defense rule,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Twitter. “@realDonaldTrump must sign it without delay.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, the president pro tempore of the Senate, confirmed that the Iowa Republican also signed the legislation to enroll the bill.

The White House previously issued a Statement of Administration Policy threatening to veto the measure, though Trump told GOP senators earlier this year that he was “neutral” on the issue.

Several dozen veterans organizations are ramping up their efforts to win over the White House on the issue. They’ll be running an ad on Fox News, starting Wednesday, urging Trump the sign the legislation. The groups include Veterans Education Success, the American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Vietnam Veterans of America.

The Democrat-led effort to overturn DeVos’ rule won some Republican votes in both chambers but did not garner a veto-proof majority in either the House or Senate.

Ten Republican senators broke with the Trump administration and joined with Democrats on a 53-42 Senate vote in March. The House passed the resolution in February 231-180, with the support of six Republicans.

DeVos’ new policy, which is set to take effect July 1, sets more stringent standards for when the government will wipe out the debt of students who claim that they were misled or deceived by their colleges. The Obama administration initially wrote the regulation in response to a flood of claims for debt relief following the collapse of large for-profit colleges like Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech.

DeVos and some congressional Republicans, meanwhile, argue that the Obama-era standards were too permissive and were unfair to colleges accused of fraud as well as taxpayers, who are on the hook for the loans if the college can’t pay.

The Education Department estimates that its stricter rules will reduce loan forgiveness by hundreds of millions of dollars each year, saving taxpayers more than $11 billion over the next decade.