Ranking Member Scott Urges Education Department to Withdraw Proposed Grant Rule

Ranking Member Scott Urges Education Department to Withdraw Proposed Grant Rule

WASHINGTON -House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA-03) urged Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to withdraw in its entirety the Department of Education's proposal to revise the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR). EDGAR governs the Department's management of education grant programs. The proposed rule would give the Department broader power to steer grant awards, pull back continued funding for multiyear projects, and end grants at its own discretion, even when a recipient has done nothing wrong.

Ranking Member Scott warned that the proposal would expand the Department's authority over grants even as the Trump Administration is dismantling the Department. He also noted that the rule overlaps with the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) government-wide grant proposal, which Congress recently blocked on a temporary basis.

"The Department's Proposed Rule would inject dysfunction and chaos into the grant-making process, increase politicization, require the application of undefined standards, and further this Administration's misuse of power in the distribution of federal funds," wrote Ranking Member Scott. "[It] represents bad policy for the administration of our federal education programs and will ultimately harm students, schools, communities, researchers, universities, localities, states, and other organizations, institutions, and individuals that rely on these grant programs to improve educational programming, teaching, learning, and ultimately student outcomes."

Ranking Member Scott also argued that the Department should not pursue new rulemaking while it fails to meet its current statutory obligations and works to hand off its congressionally mandated functions to other agencies.

To read the full letter to the Department of Education Secretary, click here.

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