00:00I recognize my friend, the ranking member, representative from Virginia, Mr. Scott.
00:05Thank you, and thank you, Madam Secretary, for being with us today.
00:08I have a lot of questions, and hopefully I can get some quick answers.
00:13I'll try to phrase them in a way that they can get some quick answers.
00:17Do you intend to comply with the May 22nd court order?
00:20May 22nd, in which we are joined in this particular aspect, can you be more specific?
00:31The court order issued on May 22nd, requiring you to, as you, it prevented you from dismantling the department?
00:40Oh, right.
00:41Yes, we will always comply with the law.
00:44Okay, and you indicated proposals for the Department of Education going forward.
00:51Can we count on receiving those proposals as they are made?
00:55We've asked for that information.
00:58We'd certainly like to comply with Congress and provide you with those.
01:03Can we get a commitment from you that you will cooperate with the Office of Inspector General
01:09and the Department of Education as the law requires?
01:12Yes, as the law requires, we will.
01:19On the budget, under the 2026 budget, a lot of workforce development programs are combined.
01:27When the dust settles, do we understand that there will be about a 33% cut in workforce development programs?
01:33We are looking at workforce development and wanting to make sure that it's treated fairly.
01:41You know, right now, the United States government is paying, well, taxpayers, are footing the bill for about 75% of that.
01:49And we want to reverse that.
01:51We want the businesses or the universities to pay the 75% and taxpayers will pay the 25%.
01:58So I think that's a better proposal for workforce development.
02:02Do I understand that to be a yes?
02:04It's about a 33% cut?
02:07I will get back to you if it's different than that.
02:10In the pending reconciliation bill, that's the one that has tax breaks for the wealthy and cuts in health care and Medicaid.
02:18CBO says at least 13 million people will lose their insurance.
02:24It's probably going to be more than that because changes were made in the bill.
02:28Snap benefit cuts and access to college with cuts in student loans and Pell grants.
02:34Does the 2026 budget cut Pell and work study on top of those cuts?
02:39You know, I would really appreciate the opportunity to respond to those if they were written questions
02:47because I think we can explain them better and I can work with you on that.
02:51Title I, you said it was level funding.
02:54Do I assume that means that it was protected?
02:58Do I assume that means it was level funded without an adjustment for inflation?
03:02For 1A.
03:04No adjustment for inflation?
03:06No, it's level funded.
03:06Okay, TRIO, you've said publicly that there were problems with evaluating the programs.
03:13Does the Department of Education now evaluates TRIO programs for effectiveness?
03:19We would like to be able to look at them and have full accountability for those programs.
03:27We are precluded from doing that right now by the way that TRIO is structured.
03:32Some of us believe that the Department has evaluations right there in the Department of Education.
03:41Do you deny that they exist?
03:43Well, there are some evaluations that are in to get TRIO going.
03:46But in terms of the longer effect of TRIO, there's specific language that prevents us from doing it.
03:52So I would like to have the ability, if TRIO is reappropriated, that we would be able to change that language and go in and understand the full accountability of the programs.
04:03On student loans, would you commit to working with us?
04:07There are about 2 million students, student loan borrowers, who have applied for income-driven repayment plans.
04:14We're caught up in a backlog.
04:15Can we count on you to work with us to make sure they're not disadvantaged?
04:20We're working relative to all of those loans that are in default with several different programs for repayment.
04:27And we urge students who have borrowed money and are in default now to go to our...
04:33They're in a backlog.
04:35So you'll work with us to make sure they're not just caught up in that.
04:39I had a Title VI question, and that is that, is it true that the Office of Civil Rights investigates allegations of violations of Title VI?
04:52The Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education is, yes, we do that.
04:57So, on Title VI, are you aware of the process that requires you to, in case, according to the law, in case of any action, terminating or refusing to grant or continue assistance because of failure to comply with the requirement?
05:17The head of the federal agency must file with the committees of the House and Senate, having legislative jurisdiction over the program or activity involved, a full written report of the circumstances and grounds for such action.
05:31No such action shall become effective until 30 days have elapsed after the filing of such report.
05:37Do you know if the Department of Education has filed a report with this committee on any action you've taken?
05:43We may very well have done that.
05:45But I'd like to get back to you just to assure you that that my answer is correct.
05:49The gentleman's time has expired.
05:52Can I ask just one quick, one more quick question?
05:56And that is, is lack of viewpoint diversity a violation of Title VI?
06:05The gentleman's time has expired, and I'll ask the secretary to respond later.
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