At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) slammed President Trump's attack on elite universities.
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00:00We'll now recognize the ranking member, Mr. Nadler, for his opening statement.
00:05Mr. Chairman, before I start my opening statement, let me mention a personal stake in this.
00:15I am the first member of my family to go to college.
00:20We didn't have much money. My father worked on a gas station.
00:23And I was offered full scholarships by two Ivy League colleges, Yale and Columbia.
00:32I chose Columbia, and I never had to pay a cent.
00:36Mr. Chairman, this hearing, like so much else that we have done in this committee under Republican control,
00:42takes a serious issue and uses it as little more than an excuse to launch a decidedly unserious so-called investigation.
00:50Let's be clear. The cost of tuition at many colleges and universities, not just Ivy League institutions,
00:59is too high and is unaffordable for too many families.
01:03But the same Republicans who today claim to be concerned about the ability of students and their families to afford college tuition
01:09proudly cast their votes two weeks ago for a budget reconciliation bill
01:15that would take direct aim at student loan programs and other vital student aid.
01:20If they really cared about consumer prices, they would not undermine the ability of all students,
01:28especially low-income students, to access and afford higher education.
01:33They would not make cuts to Pell Grants that would reduce or eliminate access for up to 4 million students.
01:40They would not cut student loan subsidies, raising costs for an average borrower by up to $200 a month.
01:47They would not make student loan repayments even more difficult and push more students into the predatory private loan market.
01:55And they would not include devastating cuts to Medicaid, which would deprive roughly 3.4 million low-income students of much-needed health care.
02:04But Republicans showed us very clearly that their priority is tax cuts for billionaires, not affordable higher education.
02:12So it is a little difficult to take their concerns seriously today.
02:17This hearing also comes in the context of the Trump administration's all-out assault on education and research
02:24at colleges and universities across the country, and particularly at Ivy League and other elite universities.
02:31The administration has slashed billions of dollars in research grants to universities,
02:36which will set back technological innovation and medical advances by decades,
02:42not to mention harming our economic growth.
02:46At the same time, they are revoking student visas and sending an unmistakable message
02:51to prospective students around the globe that they are not welcome.
02:54The result is that the brightest minds in the world who once flocked to this country
02:59will now look to bring their brains and talents elsewhere.
03:04But this attack on higher education has an even more sinister purpose.
03:08Its real target is academic freedom.
03:11Taking a page from the authoritarian playbook,
03:15the Trump administration is using every tool at its disposal
03:18in a pressure campaign to impose its ideology on independent academic institutions
03:24and to bend them into submission.
03:27And unfortunately, they have a willing partner in the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.
03:33Instead of using their power as legislators to make education cheaper,
03:37more accessible, and easier to pay off for all Americans,
03:41Republicans are using the power of this committee
03:43to aid and to bet President Trump's ideological war
03:47against a very narrow slice of higher ed institutions.
03:51How absurdly narrow is their focus?
03:54They are targeting eight schools out of about 4,000 in the United States.
03:59That amounts to a focus upon less than one-half of one percent
04:02of the American undergraduate population.
04:06While President Trump threatens individual schools with cuts
04:09for not adhering to his ideology,
04:11they are using the power and resources of this committee
04:14to pursue yet another empty antitrust theory
04:17so that they can bully their political targets.
04:20Sadly, this follows a familiar pattern.
04:24Last Congress, this subcommittee unleashed baseless antitrust investigations
04:29designed to undermine the free speech rights
04:32of advertisers and investors
04:34that held views disfavored by the majority.
04:37When advertisers made the reasonable determination
04:42that they did not want their brands associated
04:45with extremist views and hate speech on social media platforms,
04:50Republicans used the flawed antitrust theory
04:52to justify a campaign to threaten and intimidate them
04:56into abandoning their efforts at responsible advertising.
05:01When investors threatened the profits of big oil and gas companies
05:04by considering the risks that climate change pose to our economic future,
05:09the committee rushed to the defense of their corporate allies
05:11with another hollow antitrust investigation.
05:15And now today, they return to the same tired playbook,
05:19using the power of this committee
05:20to support the Trump administration's efforts
05:22to target academic institutions.
05:26After having launched an overbroad fishing expedition
05:28against Ivy League universities,
05:31they are now holding a hearing today
05:32to justify these efforts at harassment and intimidation.
05:37As I noted at the outset,
05:38there are real concerns when it comes to the cost of tuition
05:41at colleges and universities.
05:43If there is indeed collusion among the Ivy League schools,
05:46enforcement by our antitrust agencies,
05:49the Federal Trade Commission,
05:50and the Department of Justice is the answer.
05:53Not a partisan probe
05:54that merely serves as another broadside
05:56against education in America
05:58under President Trump.
06:00There is much we could do together
06:01to bring down the cost of tuition
06:03and broaden access to education.
06:06Unfortunately, Republicans would rather
06:08slash student loans
06:09to pay for tax cuts for billionaires
06:13while threatening universities
06:14that do not bend to Donald Trump's will.
06:17Unfortunately, there is one clear loser
06:19in the Republican war on science and education.
06:22It is the students they claim to support,
06:25and I should add,
06:26the public that benefits
06:27from scientific and medical discoveries
06:29that will not now happen in the United States.
06:33I appreciate our witnesses for appearing today.
06:35I look forward to hearing from them,
06:37and I yield back the balance of my time.