Foxx Subpoenas Cardona for Borrower Defense Documents
October 31, 2023
WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued a subpoena to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for documents related to borrower defense to repayment. The Committee has communicated multiple requests to the Department for data on borrower defense as part of its oversight responsibilities. In each instance, the Department has stonewalled the Committee’s requests.
In the cover letter accompanying the subpoena, Foxx writes: “The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce (Committee) is engaged in ongoing oversight of borrower defense activities of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). … You committed during the May 16, 2023, full committee hearing that you would provide responses, in good faith, to oversight questions and inquiries. … Contrary to the representations made at the hearing, the Committee has not received complete responses to every borrower defense request, and with respect to some of the requests, the Committee has received no response.”
In the letter, Foxx continues: “As part of the Department’s stonewalling, it suggested that documents we requested could not or would not be provided until after the Government Accountability Office completed its own inquiry on borrower defense to repayment. Such contentions defy Congress’ constitutional prerogatives and responsibilities.”
