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Alexander Statement on President Trump’s Higher Education Executive Order


"Conservatives don’t like it when judges try to write laws, and conservatives should not like it when legislators and agencies try to rewrite the Constitution.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 21, 2019 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s Higher Education Executive Order:

“I agree with the administration that colleges should provide better data on student debt and put some ‘skin in the game’ to reduce student borrowing. And I agree that colleges should punish hecklers who veto free speech, and stop coddling students to protect them from disagreeable points of view. But I don’t want to see Congress or the President or the department of anything creating speech codes to define what you can say on campus. The U.S. Constitution guarantees free speech. Federal courts define and enforce it. The Department of Justice can weigh in. Conservatives don’t like it when judges try to write laws, and conservatives should not like it when legislators and agencies try to rewrite the Constitution.”

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