Trump vetoes measure aimed at blocking DeVos student loan rule

President Trump on Friday vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have overturned new regulations from the Education Department to restrict access to federal student loan forgiveness.

The decision hands Education Secretary Betsy DeVos a victory over veterans groups that said her rules would make it harder for veterans who they say were cheated by dishonest for-profit colleges.

The veto paves the way for DeVos to impose rules that toughen standards established under President Obama that had allowed student borrowers to prove their colleges defrauded them to have their student loans forgiven.

Under the Education Department’s new rules, set to take effect July 1, borrowers will be unable to have their loans erased unless they can prove their income has been impacted by the colleges even if they can prove they were deceived.

The veto is just the eighth of Trump’s presidency and the first one centered on a domestic policy issue.

Trump wrote in his veto message that the bill “sought to reimpose an Obama-era regulation that defined education fraud so broadly that it threatened to paralyze the nation’s system of higher education.” 

“The Department of Education’s rule strikes a better balance, protecting students’ rights to recover from schools that defraud them while foreclosing frivolous lawsuits,” he wrote.

While the veto helps Trump and DeVos avoid a potentially embarrassing confrontation, it risks drawing the ire of veterans groups who had lobbied hard for the bill’s passage, with many noting that service members are often targeted by unscrupulous colleges because of their GI benefits.

“.@realDonaldTrump’s decision today to veto the #bipartisan resolution, against the request of 3 dozen veterans organizations, is a blow to #veterans, #servicemembers & their families,” tweeted Veterans Education Success.

We are heartbroken for @Tasha96354359
and thousands of #veterans whose #GIBill was stolen.

.@realDonaldTrump‘s decision today to veto the #bipartisan resolution, against the request of 3 dozen veterans organizations, is a blow to #veterans, #servicemembers & their families.

— Veterans Education Success (@GIBillRights) May 29, 2020

Trump has previously vetoed an array of legislation intended to impede arms sales or war powers in the Middle East. He twice vetoed bills to overturn his emergency declaration at the southern border.

Before Friday, his most recent veto was of a resolution aimed at restricting his ability to take military action against Iran. 

Democrats said they hoped to overturn Trump’s latest veto, but garnering enough Republicans to hit the necessary two-thirds threshold in the Senate is highly unlikely.