Secret and ‘Illegal’ Trump Plan to Spin Off Federal Student Aid Office Sparks Outrage

from Common Dreams

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to remove the Federal Student Aid office from the Department of Education and establish a new independent agency tasked with managing roughly $1.6 trillion in debt owed by more than 40 million borrowers.

The plan, first reported by The Washington Sun on Thursday, comes as President Donald Trump works to illegally dismantle the Education Department without congressional authorization and assails student aid programs. Legally spinning off the Federal Student Aid office—the largest segment of the Education Department—would require an act of Congress, something that administration officials have “acknowledged internally,” according to the Sun.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, expressed outrage over the administration’s reported plan, noting that the Trump administration has already gutted the student aid office’s staff.

“Tens of millions of Americans are depending on government to actually work here,” Murray said in a statement. “This intentional sabotage only threatens to create true financial chaos in people’s lives.”...

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