‘Swindlers and Crooks Are Out There Doing Back Flips When They Hear an Answer Like This’
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) grilled Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s controversial nominee to head the Dept. of Education Tuesday evening, and delivered responses that clearly displayed not only her lack of knowledge about the department, but her lack of desire to enforce existing laws. Worse, as Sen. Warren reminded her, she and DeVos discussed how to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in a pre-hearing meeting and apparently that information didn’t stick with her.
Sen. Warren confirmed that DeVos has zero experience with student loans, Pell grants, or managing organizations that deliver billions of dollars, which is what the Dept. of Education does.
Warren used Donald Trump’s own Trump University as the perfect example of a scam designed to make money but not deliver an actual education to students. She reminded DeVos that Trump was forced to pay $25 million after New York sued him.Â
When the Massachusetts Democrat asked DeVos, who is opposed to public education, how she would prevent fraud and abuse, DeVos didn’t have an answer. She told Warren she will work with the people in the Education Dept. to prevent fraud and abuse, and Warren again asked her “how” she will do it, reminding her that there already are rules in place and all she has to do is enforce them.
Again, asked if she would enforce the rules, DeVos would only say she would “review” them, to see if they are “actually achieving what the intentions are.”
Warren, refusing to accept DeVos’ answer, made certain DeVos – and the American people – understood her message.
“I don’t understand about ‘reviewing it.’ We talked about this in my office,” Sen. Warren said. “There are already rules in place to stop waste, fraud and abuse, and I don’t understand how you can not be sure about enforcing them. You know, swindlers and crooks are out there doing back flips when they hear an answer like this.â€
Sen. Warren later posted this tweet:
Watch:
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You can respond directly to Betsy DeVos by sending your comments to her on Twitter: @BetsyDeVos or to her via her website. Â
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