Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Education
Durbin, Takano, Levin Statement On Department Of Veterans Affairs Action To Protect Student Veterans At For-Profit Colleges
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-41), Chairman of the House Committee On Veterans' Affairs, and U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it would halt new G.I. Bill enrollments at for-profit University of Phoenix and former Career Education Corporation (CEC) … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Durbin, Schumer, Veterans Groups Urge Senate To Overturn DeVos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and veterans organizations, held a press conference to urge Senate Republicans to support Durbin's Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolution, (S.J.Res. 56) which would overturn the U.S. Department of Education's 2019 Borrower Defense rule that gutted essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Durbin and Schumer were joined by Ohio Army veteran Tasha … Continue Reading
February 12, 2020
Durbin: Senate Will Soon Have Chance To Stand Up For Defrauded Student Veterans
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers, taxpayers, and veterans. Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to support his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J.Res. 56) of disapproval overturning the DeVos rule when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Durbin shared support from … Continue Reading
February 10, 2020
Durbin Statement On President Trump's FY21 Budget Request
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after President Donald Trump submitted his fiscal year 2021 budget request to Congress: "After Congress has repeatedly rejected funding his 'big, beautiful' border wall, the fact that President Trump would request $2 billion for a campaign promise that Mexico was supposed to pay for - while cutting funding from programs like Medicare, Medicaid, … Continue Reading
January 16, 2020
Durbin Statement On House Passage Of Resolution Overturning DeVos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 231-180 to pass H.J.Res. 76, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval overturning Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Six Republicans joined House Democrats to pass the measure. The resolution was introduced by U.S. … Continue Reading
January 15, 2020
Durbin Calls On Senate Colleagues To Stand Up For Veterans & Students Defrauded By For-Profit Colleges
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to support his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J.Res. 56) of disapproval overturning the DeVos rule when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Durbin cited a letter urging the Senate to … Continue Reading
January 07, 2020
Durbin: Stand Up For Veterans, Students, And Families By Overturning DeVos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to support his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J.Res. 56) of disapproval overturning the DeVos rule when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. "With this new rule, Secretary DeVos is … Continue Reading
December 20, 2019
Durbin, Takano: VA Must Protect Veteran Students In Wake Of FTC Settlements With For-Profit Colleges
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-41), along with several of their colleagues, today sent a letter to Secretary of Veteran Affairs Robert Wilkie urging the Department of Veteran Affairs to protect veteran students in the wake of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlements with for-profit Career Education Corporation (CEC) and University of Phoenix (UOP) for unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices. In August, the FTC announced a $30 million … Continue Reading
December 19, 2019
Durbin, King, Smith, Sinema Secure $7 Million For Competitive Grants Supporting Open Textbooks In Year-End Funding Bill
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Angus King (I-ME), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) today applauded the inclusion of $7 million in additional funding and report language for the continued implementation of the Open Textbooks Pilot in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations bill - a $2 million increase from FY19. The Open Textbooks Pilot, based on the Senators' Affordable College Textbook Act, is a competitive grant program to support the creation and expand the use … Continue Reading
December 17, 2019
Durbin, Duckworth Help Veteran Receive Benefits After Being Denied Assistance
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI-05), today announced that a Flint-native and decorated Navy veteran, retired Senior Chief Russell Dotson, will receive tens of thousands of dollars of G.I. Bill higher education benefits owed to his family after the U.S. Navy denied this assistance because of a bureaucratic paperwork mistake. The acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, has indicated to Durbin, Duckworth, Kildee, … Continue Reading
December 16, 2019
Durbin Introduces Legislation To Improve Accountability Of Foreign Medical Schools Receiving Federal Student Aid
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation that would protect students and taxpayers by closing a loophole that gives special treatment to a small number of overseas medical schools. U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX-26) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year. The Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act would require all medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada to meet the same minimum requirements to receive … Continue Reading
December 13, 2019
Durbin, Bennet, Duckworth, Gardner To DeVos: Extend Closed School Discharge Eligibility For Illinois, Colorado Students
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) today sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urging her to extend the closed school discharge eligibility lookback period for Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) Illinois Institute of Art and Art Institute of Colorado students who attended or withdrew on or after January 20, 2018. In November, the Department announced it would cancel the loans taken out by … Continue Reading
December 12, 2019
Durbin: For Defrauded Student Borrowers, Secretary DeVos Is Secretary Scrooge
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new methodology using Gainful Employment data for determining the amount of relief defrauded student borrowers should receive for successful borrower defense claims. This methodology would deny full relief to defrauded student borrowers. Durbin shared stories of three students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges, buried in … Continue Reading
December 11, 2019
Durbin Statement On DeVos' New Proposed Methodology For Denying Full Relief To Defrauded Student Borrowers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the Department of Education has developed a new methodology using Gainful Employment data for determining the amount of relief defrauded student borrowers should receive for successful borrower defense claims: "This latest scheme by Secretary Betsy DeVos to penalize student borrowers is an outrage. The Department refuses to use Gainful … Continue Reading
December 03, 2019
Durbin: Will Senators Stand With Betsy DeVos Or Defrauded Student Borrowers?
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. The DeVos borrower defense rule makes it almost impossible for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school's closure to receive the relief to which they are entitled, and which Congress intended, under the Higher … Continue Reading
November 20, 2019
Durbin: Senate Must Stand With Defrauded Student Borrowers And Overturn DeVos Borrower Defense Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. The DeVos borrower defense rule makes it almost impossible for borrowers who are defrauded by their school or harmed by their school's closure to receive the relief to which they are entitled, and which Congress intended, under the Higher … Continue Reading
November 15, 2019
Durbin, Murray Continue To Seek Status Of Group Discharge Applications Submitted By State AG's
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA) today requested the U.S. Department of Education provide an update on group discharge applications filed by State attorneys general on behalf of thousands of defrauded students who are eligible for federal loan discharge under the borrower defense provision of the Higher Education Act. The Department's response to the same request Durbin, Murray, and 20 of their Senate colleagues sent in June was "unacceptable." The … Continue Reading
November 08, 2019
Durbin To Devos: Illinois Institute Of Art Students Deserve Full Loan Discharges After Accreditation Misrepresentation By Dream Center
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education announced it would cancel loans taken out between January 20, 2018, and December 31, 2018, for students who attended Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) Illinois Institute of Art and Colorado Art Institute. "Today's loan cancellation will only relieve harmed Illinois Institute of Art students of part of the debt they incurred at these worthless institutions. I renew my … Continue Reading
November 01, 2019
Durbin, Blumenthal, Brown Call On Devos To Immediately Cooperate With Investigation Into Department's Role In Dream Center Accreditation Misrepresentation
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calling for her immediate and full cooperation with House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott's (D-VA-03) investigation into the Department's role in Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) accreditation misrepresentation at its Illinois Institute of Art and Art Institute of Colorado campuses. DeVos has … Continue Reading
October 31, 2019
Durbin Demands CFPB Investigation Of Mismanagement Of Student Loan Forgiveness Program
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along 22 other Democratic Senators, demanded Consumer Financial Protect Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger to investigate student loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) for mismanagement of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. "We write to request that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) immediately open an enforcement investigation into the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency's … Continue Reading