Congressman George Miller Chastises United States Department of Education and Schedules Hearing
Like his counterpart in the United States Senate, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Congressman George Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, is also investigating the kickback scam involving Capella University. In fact, Miller's committee will be holding a hearing on the matter on April 25, 2007. We urge all members of the committee to take strong and swift action to halt the unethical practices of the money mongers and liars at Capella.
We would also like to highlight the Congressman's recent letter (April 18, 2007) to Margaret Spellings, Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education. In that letter (refer to complete transcript listed below), Miller notes:
"The Department of Education has been delinquent in its oversight of the student loan industry."
Based upon the grossly incompetent and shoddy investigations by the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights in which some of their morons; including but not limited to: Mark Farr, Linda McGovern, and others failed to investigate other very serious matters concerning Capella University, as well as the United States Department of Education, Family Policy Compliance Office to investigate violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), by Capella University, in a timely manner, we believe that the Congressman should take even more aggressive action against the USDE. For readers who may not have heard of FERPA, it is a Federal law which requires schools to turn over "education records" (as defined by the law) over to students within forty-five days of the initial request. We are quite familiar with one FERPA complaint against Capella that was made nearly three (3) years ago and yet the USDE has done nothing but drag their feet. Even now, the vast bulk of the records requested of Capella have never been turned over and there is reason to believe that many of them have now been destroyed. We urge the Congressmen and the House Committee on Education and Labor to put an end to the incompetence that seems to pervade the USDE.
Read Congressman George Miller's letters today!
Congressman George Miller Chastises USDE
The following letter contains the complete text of the letter from Congressman George Miller to USDE, Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings.
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April 18, 2007
The Honorable Margaret Spellings
Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Room 7W301
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Secretary Spellings:
I am writing to strongly urge you to take emergency action to immediately resolve a number of problems in the federal student loan programs that are preventing the programs from operating to the maximum benefit of students, families, and taxpayers.
The Department of Education has been delinquent in its oversight of the student loan industry. While I appreciate the letter you issued to Chairman Kennedy yesterday, the fact is that much more needs to be done to address problems in the federal student loan programs. Within 10 days, I request that you respond in writing and provide an update on the status of these emergency action items.
- Impose a moratorium on "preferred lender lists." Immediately end the practice of institutions using "preferred lenders" until we can ensure that these lists no longer drive corruption and cronyism.
- Clearly define and end bribes. Please explain why the Department has failed for the past six years to publish regulations on inducements and immediately publish emergency regulations to clearly define inducements and bribes.
- Require full disclosure. Immediately require all institutions and lenders to disclose any and all relationships that present conflicts of interest.
- Instruct schools and lenders to cease and desist all conflicts of interest. Immediately bar institutions and lenders from having conflicts of interest.
The Honorable Margaret Spellings April 18, 2007
- Conduct oversight of Department of Education employees. Request the Inspector General to conduct full oversight of all Department of Education employees to ensure they have no conflicts of interest with student lenders.
Additionally, in the public interest and in the interest of full disclosure, I urge you to:
- Launch a public campaign to actively educate students and families about their rights and options when borrowing for college; and
- Make public all records of loan industry meetings with political appointees so that the Congress and the American public better understand who at the Department was being lobbied by the industry.
As stewards of the federal student aid programs, we all have a responsibility to ensure the integrity of the program. It is time to take that responsibility seriously and act in the best interest of students, families and taxpayers.
Sincerely,
George Miller,
Chairman
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Congressman George Miller's Emergency Reforms
The following contains Congressman George Millers Emergency Reform Plan. We certain can't help but wonder if the USDE will comply with his requests.
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Chairman Miller Calls on Education Department to
Implement Emergency Reforms in Student Loan Industry
Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Education has failed to conduct adequate oversight of the student loan industry. Today, in a step towards ensuring that the federal student loan programs are operated to the maximum possible benefit of students, families, and taxpayers, Congressman George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, is calling on Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to immediately take the following actions:
- Impose a moratorium on "preferred lender lists." The Secretary must immediately require colleges and universities to end the practice of establishing special relationships with lenders -- which they do by creating "preferred lender" lists — until we can ensure that these lists no longer feed corruption and cronyism.
- Clearly define and end bribes paid by lenders. The Secretary must explain why the Department has failed for the past six years to publish regulations on inducements paid by lenders to colleges and universities in order to receive special treatment. The Secretary must publish emergency regulations to clearly define inducements and bribes.
- Require full disclosure. The Secretary must require all institutions and lenders immediately disclose any and all relationships that present conflicts of interest.
- Instruct schools and lenders to cease and desist all conflicts of interest. The Secretary must bar institutions and lenders from having conflicts of interest.
- Conduct oversight of Department of Education employees. The Secretary must request the Inspector General to investigate all senior Department of Education employees that work on higher education issues to ensure they have no conflicts of interest with student lenders.
Additionally, Chairman Miller calls on the Secretary to:
• Launch a public campaign to actively educate students and families about their rights and options when borrowing for college; and
• Make public all records of loan industry meetings with political appointees so that the Congress and the American public better understand who at the Department was being lobbied by the industry.
Office of the Committee On Education and Labor Democrats • April 18, 2007 |
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