Ranking Member Cassidy, Chairwoman Foxx Slam Biden Admin for Illegally Obstructing Federal Investigation into Botched FAFSA Rollout, Demand Compliance

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, blasted the Biden administration for illegally obstructing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into the administration’s failure to implement the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program. Previously, Cassidy and Foxx made multiple requests to GAO to investigate the Department of Education’s (DeptEd) botched FAFSA rollout, including reported issues with the information technology systems that contributed to the delays.  

From the time GAO began its investigation earlier this year, DeptEd has failed repeatedly to provide requested information to GAO as required by federal law. According to GAO, investigators met with the DeptEd “numerous times” and offered accommodations to allow the Department to gather the documents relevant to the investigation. Despite this, GAO “still [has] not received many of the requested items.” Further, GAO stated that these delays “have impacted [GAO’s] progress on the work and [its] ability to meet [its] expected timeframe for issuance [of its findings] this summer ahead of the fall FAFSA cycle.”  

This comes as a recent report revealed that DeptEd staff warned the Biden transition team in 2020 that there would be significant challenges to implement the technical changes in the new FAFSA program by the original 2023-2024 cycle deadline. Instead of taking these concerns seriously, senior administration officials “often failed to check in on the [FAFSA simplification] project along the way, and were overly focused on other priorities such as the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness plans.” Biden’s student loan schemes transfer the burden of college debt onto Americans who chose not to go to college or already paid off their loans, costing taxpayers up to $1.4 trillion. 

Given these troubling revelations and concerns that the administration is again behind on implementing the next FAFSA cycle, Cassidy and Foxx are demanding DeptEd comply with GAO’s requests and turn over all documents related to the investigation in accordance with federal law.  

“Instead of owning up to its mistake, the Biden administration is hiding evidence relating to its botched FAFSA rollout from Congress and the American people,” wrote the lawmakers. “GAO is investigating the FAFSA rollout at our request, and by stonewalling, the Department is interfering with our ability to carry out our constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities.” 

“The Department’s ongoing failure to comply with GAO’s requests is unacceptable,” continued the lawmakers. “Accordingly, please produce all records that GAO has requested in connection with its investigation no later than June 7, 2024.” 

Read the full letter here or below.  

Dear Secretary Cardona:

We write to demand that the Department of Education (Department) immediately comply with all Government Accountability Office (GAO) record requests pertaining to the Biden Administration’s rollout of the simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). GAO is investigating the FAFSA rollout at our request, and by stonewalling, the Department is interfering with our ability to carry out our constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities.

As we stressed in our January 24 and February 7 letters to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting the GAO investigation, the Department’s repeated delays and technical problems with the FAFSA rollout have created significant difficulties for students attempting to file applications, delays for schools trying to determine financial aid package amounts, and uncertainty for students trying to make informed decisions about which colleges to attend.1 If not fully identified and addressed, ongoing problems with the FAFSA will create complications for schools and college students for at least the next two academic years.

The American people should not have to bear the consequences of the Department’s blunders. According to a recent report published in The New York Times, Department staff warned the Biden transition team in advance that it would be challenging to implement the technical changes required by the FAFSA Simplification Act, which became law on December 27, 2020.2 A December 3, 2020 e-mail from Department staff to future Deputy Under Secretary of Education Benjamin Miller stressed that the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office was concerned that the effective date Congress set for rollout of a new FAFSA would be “too aggressive for FSA to meet.”3

Instead of taking these concerns seriously, the Biden Administration proceeded to channel extensive resources away from congressionally mandated responsibilities, including the return to repayment and FAFSA simplification, and toward projects that were not sanctioned by Congress at all, including the Biden Administration’s illegal loan forgiveness scheme, which the Supreme Court has since ruled exceeded the authority of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003.4 The New York Times also reported that “[c]urrent and former officials who worked on the FAFSA simplification once the scale of problems became clear have said that the department’s leaders often failed to check in on the [FAFSA simplification] project along the way, and were overly focused on other priorities such as the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness plans.”5

Instead of owning up to its mistake, the Biden administration is hiding evidence relating to its botched FAFSA rollout from Congress and the American people. According to two May 20, 2024, letters from Comptroller General Dodaro to you, GAO met with the Department “numerous times” and offered “accommodations” to allow the Department to gather the information GAO requested in connection with its investigation.6 Nevertheless, GAO “still [has] not received many of the requested items.”7 According to Comptroller General Dodaro, “[t]he continued delays have impacted [GAO’s] progress on the work and [its] ability to meet [its] expected timeframe for issuance [of its findings] this summer ahead of the fall FAFSA cycle.”8

The Department’s ongoing failure to comply with GAO’s requests is unacceptable. GAO is a part of the Legislative Branch, and by preventing GAO from doing its job, the Department is interfering with our efforts to address concerns with FAFSA and pursue transparency and accountability on behalf of the American people. The Department’s stonewalling of GAO’s investigation also conflicts with the explicit commitment that you made during your February 3, 2021, confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).

During HELP’s hearing, then-Ranking Member Burr asked if you would “commit to providing the Department of Education Inspector General and the [Government Accountability Office] with any information, briefings, and documents that they may request[.]” In response, you answered, “yes.”10

We demand that you honor your commitment without further delay. Accordingly, please produce all records that GAO has requested in connection with its investigation no later than June 7, 2024. At the same time, please produce identical copies of those same records to the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce and to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

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