Congressman Steven Horsford Votes to Override Trump Veto for Nevada’s Students

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) voted to override President Trump's veto of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolution, H.J.Res. 76. That legislation, passed in both the House and the Senate before receiving President Trump's veto, would overturn the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE) 2019 Borrower Defense rule from Secretary Betsy DeVos that gutted essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers.

"Today, I joined my colleagues in standing up for America's students — those who have been lied to and preyed upon by for-profit colleges who are left with crushing debt, useless degrees, and no job opportunities that they were initially promised," Congressman Horsford said. "The President's veto of this legislation furthers the financial strife of Americans who sought higher education opportunities from fraudulent institutions. I'm proud today to stand up for Nevada's students and to support my colleague in our state's delegation, Congresswoman Susie Lee, who initially brought this resolution to the floor and has bravely pushed back against this shameful veto."

The Congressional Review Act, enacted in 1996, gives Congress 60 legislative days to overturn a final rule, once it is submitted to Congress. The initial passage of H.J.Res. 76 was the first use of the Congressional Review Act to reverse a Trump Administration rule.

Since taking office, Secretary DeVos has refused to implement the Borrower Defense rule—created by President Obama in 2016 following the collapse of Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute—which has left hundreds of thousands of defrauded borrowers waiting for relief.

First, the Department unlawfully attempted to prevent the Obama-era rule from going into effect. Then, after a federal court ordered Secretary DeVos to implement the rule, she still refused to provide defrauded borrowers the relief they desperately need. Instead of working to make defrauded students whole, the Department finalized a new Borrower Defense rule in August 2019 that forces future defrauded borrowers to navigate a burdensome process to get relief, severely restricts how much relief they can receive, and shifts the cost of providing debt relief from predatory schools to taxpayers.

Analysis of the new rule estimates that the share of eligible loan debt forgiven under the Borrower Defense rule will drop from 53 percent using the Obama-era standard to just 3 percent under the DeVos rule.