Linda McMahon’s Illegal Transfer of Student Loans to Treasury Will Raise Costs: Weingarten

WASHINGTON-AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Department of Education announced it was shifting responsibility for its $1.7 trillion loan portfolio to the Treasury Department:

"Americans are already struggling to afford groceries, rent and child care-and this move, alongside the many others Secretary McMahon has made, will probably make things worse. The shifting of Education Department programs elsewhere has only increased the bureaucracy and red tape the secretary says she wants to slash. And this one includes an indefensible provision that saddles borrowers with the cost of the reshuffle.

"For over a decade, the AFT has been fighting for greater transparency and major fixes to the broken student loan system to help student loan borrowers. But from day one, the Trump administration has made this harder, not easier, siding with private collection agencies and unleashing wage garnishment and Department of Justice referrals on the most vulnerable.

"I am calling on McMahon to state publicly that not one additional dollar will be billed to student loan borrowers as a result of this move, and that all existing discharge obligations will be honored in full. The AFT will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that happens.

"College should be more affordable. This administration has made it less so."

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.