HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Dozens of Democratic members of Congress urged officials in the Trump administration on Sunday to stop trying to sell federal student loan debt.
The lawmakers, who were led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that selling the debt to private companies would be a “giveaway” to wealthy “insiders.”
Politico reported last month that the administration was considering the action.
“The Trump Administration should immediately stop any plans to sell or transfer responsibility of the student debt portfolio to the private, often predatory, market,” the lawmakers said. “The Department of Education’s role in providing financial aid to America’s students is clear, and the Department should not take any action that would enrich the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of working-class borrowers and taxpayers.”
An education department spokesperson told The National News Desk on Wednesday that it was evaluating ways to improve the “fiscal health” of its student loan portfolio, which it valued at nearly $1.7 trillion, to “safeguard the interests of both students and taxpayers.”
The lawmakers said that selling student loan debt could enrich private companies at the expense of taxpayers, however. The administration also includes multiple officials who could present conflicts of interest, and it has a history of acting unethically, the Democrats suggested.
“Given the numerous high-level Trump officials with egregious conflicts of interest, the pay-to-play culture of the Administration, and the concerning number of Trump officials appointed to the Department of Education with ties to for-profit colleges and the private education industry, we are highly concerned about conflicts of interest and the use of the publicly-owned student loan portfolio to enrich well-connected industry insiders at the expense of the working class,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Department of the Treasury did not respond to The National News Desk’s request for comment by the time it published this article. Bessent has often defended his department’s conduct, however, while casting a negative light on the Biden administration.
Last week, the secretary said at a conference that President Donald Trump’s 2024 election was an inflection point for the country and its “fiscal future.” He also criticized the Biden administration’s financial policies, which he said led to Trump’s victory.
“Inflation had skyrocketed to generational highs. Families watched their hard-earned savings melt away as prices of consumer goods climbed ever higher,” Bessent said, according to a transcript of his comments.
“Seeking a course correction, voters elected President Trump in a landslide. And they gave him a clear mandate: to make America affordable again.”
Inflation slowed at the end of the Biden administration, and prices dropped.
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