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Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona sent an email on July 17, 2024, to thousands of student loan holders regarding the recent federal court decisions on the "Saving on a Valuable Education" income-driven repayment plan, otherwise know as the "SAVE Plan."
The email, which came from Cardona via a "StudentAid.gov" email address, starts off:
Borrowers are assured that providing clarity and making higher education more affordable and accessible are top priorities for the Department of Education.
Cardona continues:
Let me be clear: President Biden and I are determined to lower costs for student loan borrowers, to make repaying student debt affordable and realistic, and to build on our separate efforts that have already provided relief to 4.75 million Americans – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us. That’s why our Administration will continue to implement the SAVE Plan to the fullest extent possible to help borrowers access lower monthly payments.
After describing the program in more detail, Cardona promises:
In addition to implementing these provisions of the SAVE Plan and vigorously defending the plan in court, the Biden-Harris Administration will also continue our work alleviating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans.
Cardona takes another swipe at Republicans while promising the Biden Admin will keep fighting for students:
While we disagree with the Republican elected officials’ efforts here to side with special interests and block borrowers from getting breathing room on their student loans, President Biden and our Administration will not stop fighting to make sure Americans have affordable access to the lifechanging opportunities a higher education can provide.
Republican attorneys are arguing this kind of communication appears to violate the Hatch Act which prohibits civil service employees, including most political appointees, from taking an active part in political management or campaigns in concert with a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.
The Department of Education came to Cardona's defense, saying, “The statements were factually accurate descriptions of the lawsuits, were for the purpose of addressing potential borrower confusion about the status of their loans in the wake of the court decisions, and did not violate the Hatch Act,” according to Fox News.
Attorneys General Austin Knudsen of Montana and Kris Kobach of Kansas allege Cardona, "consciously chose to use government resources for political activities, including to affect the upcoming Presidential election. In view of the repeated, flagrant violations of the Hatch Act, a significant penalty is warranted."
It's not exactly a secret that the Biden-Harris Administration has leveraged the government to try to impact the upcoming election.
Biden passed an Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting on March 7, 2021, that directed every federal agency to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote” and "eliminate discrimination and other barriers" so that more people, "especially people of color", could participate in “the electoral process”.
Toward that end the Department of Education has suggested it could fund “get-out-the-vote activities” including a “toolkit” to help rock the vote on college campuses and in K-12 institutions.
It's far from the only department helping to register voters.
