Major Update

• House Votes to Overturn Department of Education’s Borrower Defense to Repayment Rule
  Legislators voted to approve a Congressional Review Act resolution to block the recent Department of Education rules tweaking “borrower defense to repayment” (BDR) regulation. BDR was created to protect students from paying back loans when colleges have defrauded them. Along with a handful of Republicans, all House Democrats voted to overturn Secretary DeVos’ recent changes to the Obama administration rule. Legislators have argued these changes make it much harder for students who seek legitimate loan forgiveness based on misconduct of institutions. DeVos and the current administration have argued it was too easy for students to make claims under the Obama administration rule. The resolution now moves to the Senate, where there is pressure to bring it to a vote in the coming weeks.

  As of last year, there were more than 210,000 BDR claims waiting to be processed, according to the Department. And according to recent court filings, the Department has continued to collect loan payments from 29,000 of these students. In recent weeks, a court has been weighing fines against the Department and held Secretary DeVos in contempt for these acts.