House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., threatened to subpoena Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after she “stonewalled” the committee in setting up a date for her testimony.
Maloney said in a letter to the secretary that she invited DeVos to testify last month about “critical issues facing the Department,” including federal student loans, the department’s policies regarding campus sexual assault and harassment, and DeVos’ failure to protect students defrauded by for-profit colleges.
Maloney noted that DeVos had time to travel to Iowa and Pennsylvania this week to campaign for President Trump but repeatedly “delayed” her testimony to Congress.
“Unfortunately, it now appears that rather than agreeing to testify before Congress — which is your obligation as a public servant of the American taxpayers — you made plans to appear at multiple political events for President Trump’s re-election campaign,” Maloney wrote. “Instead of testifying before Congress, you are now apparently going to Iowa to campaign on behalf of President Trump today and then to Pennsylvania for another campaign event for him on Wednesday.”
Angela Morabito, a spokeswoman for DeVos, told Politico that the department has complied with all “lawful oversight requests.”
“It’s Groundhog Day all over again!” she said. “Democrats in Congress are grandstanding for political points while the Department continues to get work done.”
But Maloney said that DeVos should testify to Congress if she has time to campaign for Trump, adding that the committee may legally require her to show up.
“Ignoring — or defying — requests for congressional oversight in order to spend your time campaigning for President Trump is an abuse of your position as Secretary of Education,” Maloney said. “I am not suggesting that you may never campaign for the President, but you may not do so when it interferes with your official duties, including your duty to testify before Congress. If you will not agree to testify voluntarily, the Committee will have no choice but to consider issuing a subpoena to compel your appearance.”
Maloney gave DeVos four days to confirm she will testify before the committee in March or she will be issued a subpoena.
Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., who sits on the Oversight Committee, called DeVos’ refusal to testify before the panel “ridiculous.”
“Our kids’ futures should be a top priority but instead, Secretary DeVos is shirking her responsibility as cabinet secretary for her own political gain,” she said.
DeVos’ controversial moves as Education Secretary have become a focal point on the campaign trail, where Democrats have criticized her for mismanaging student loan forgiveness programs and for defending for-profit colleges.
“Betsy DeVos is the worst Education Secretary in our modern history,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said last year. “Over and over, she has protected for-profit corporations that exploit students and educators.”
“Betsy DeVos is the worst Secretary of Education we’ve seen,” agreed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “She and her team are up to their eyeballs in conflicts of interest. Instead of championing our students, they protect for-profit colleges that break the law and cheat them.”
Jill Biden, a longtime college professor and the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, vowed on Monday that her husband would appoint a teacher to replace DeVos if he wins.
“We’re going to have a secretary of education who has been in the classroom. These are all things that I have personally seen and have been important to me as a teacher,” she told MSNBC. “When he’s elected president, when you look right next to him, there will be standing a teacher.”
Joe Biden made a similar vow while speaking at the National Education Association forum in Houston in July.
“First thing as president of the United States, not a joke, first thing I will do is make sure that the secretary of education, not Betsy DeVos, is a teacher,” he said. “So the press doesn’t get confused, I promise I’m not going to appoint my wife. She’d be a good one.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.