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Re: Biden's defunct student loan forgiveness plan wasn't well-protected against fraud, watchdog says
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Two Ring Circus
Feb 17, 2024, 4:00:38 PM2/17/24
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On 12 Oct 2022, Molly Bolt <mollyth...@gmail.com> posted some
news:d6b22f52-52a2-4fb2...@googlegroups.com:
> Biden and his administration are too stupid to do anything right and
> they lie about everything.
President Joe Biden’s failed first attempt at student loan forgiveness
had a fraud problem, according to an independent watchdog.
Last year, the federal Education Department approved 16 million
borrowers, of more than 26 million who applied, for up to $20,000 in
student debt relief without applying standard fraud prevention measures,
the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office concluded in a report
published Thursday.
The debt relief plan would have forgiven as much as $400 billion in
student loans, addressing a burden that continues to weigh down many
American families. Repayments resumed on those loans last month after a
more than three-year freeze triggered by the pandemic. Had the plan not
been stalled by lower courts - and ultimately struck down in dramatic
fashion over the summer by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority -
the department would have “left the door open” to the possibility of
some ineligible borrowers getting forgiveness based on fraudulent data,
the auditors said.
“It is crucial that the department commit to fraud risk management in
any future program it pursues,” they wrote.
The report provides fodder to Biden’s political enemies as his
administration doubles down on the need for relief from the nearly $2
trillion that Americans owe in student debt, which in recent years has
ballooned into the U.S. government’s single largest financial asset.
Though Americans are split along party lines about whether widespread
student debt relief is fair, Biden has centered it as an issue in his
reelection campaign, enlisting a group of negotiators to help with
crafting more targeted forms of loan forgiveness.
Against backdrop of frustrated borrowersstudent loan debt forgiveness
committee meets
A primary concern laid out in Thursday’s GAO report was over some
borrowers with self-reported incomes. When the Education Department
rolled out Biden’s massive student debt relief plan last October, the
federal government didn’t verify some borrowers’ self-reported incomes
before approving them for relief, according to the auditors.
Education Department: GAO audit 'mischaracterizes' fraud prevention
efforts The Education Department minimized the findings.
In an Oct. 16 letter signed by Richard Cordray, the chief operating
officer for the Federal Student Aid program, the department said the
potential rate of fraud among applications would have been less than 1%
- even in the unlikeliest worst-case scenario.
“Faulting the Department’s implementation of its fraud risk management
strategy as incomplete, when federal court orders prevented the
Department from continuing to work on any aspect of the program,
mischaracterizes those efforts,” Cordray wrote in the letter responding
to GAO's findings.
Among other recommendations, the auditors suggested that the federal
government avoid relying on self-reported data in future loan relief
efforts. They also told the Education Department to fully implement all
stages of its risk management plan before embarking on any other relief.
New SAVE student loan repayment plan:Republicans tried to squash it. They
failed.
The department mostly agreed with those suggestions but dissented on some
of the technicalities. Cordray noted that the program "inherently had an
extremely low risk of fraud," "targeted a population of borrowers well
known to the Department" and offered debt relief, not cash payments.
The federal watchdog began its inquiry into the program before the Supreme
Court ruling in June, GAO spokesperson Chuck Young told USA TODAY in an
email. It was launched by GAO in the interest of program integrity, Young
said. Unlike some other audits, it was not conducted at the request of
Congress.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/11/16/bidens-first-
student-loan-forgiveness-fraud-problem/71610951007/
news:d6b22f52-52a2-4fb2...@googlegroups.com:
> Biden and his administration are too stupid to do anything right and
> they lie about everything.
President Joe Biden’s failed first attempt at student loan forgiveness
had a fraud problem, according to an independent watchdog.
Last year, the federal Education Department approved 16 million
borrowers, of more than 26 million who applied, for up to $20,000 in
student debt relief without applying standard fraud prevention measures,
the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office concluded in a report
published Thursday.
The debt relief plan would have forgiven as much as $400 billion in
student loans, addressing a burden that continues to weigh down many
American families. Repayments resumed on those loans last month after a
more than three-year freeze triggered by the pandemic. Had the plan not
been stalled by lower courts - and ultimately struck down in dramatic
fashion over the summer by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority -
the department would have “left the door open” to the possibility of
some ineligible borrowers getting forgiveness based on fraudulent data,
the auditors said.
“It is crucial that the department commit to fraud risk management in
any future program it pursues,” they wrote.
The report provides fodder to Biden’s political enemies as his
administration doubles down on the need for relief from the nearly $2
trillion that Americans owe in student debt, which in recent years has
ballooned into the U.S. government’s single largest financial asset.
Though Americans are split along party lines about whether widespread
student debt relief is fair, Biden has centered it as an issue in his
reelection campaign, enlisting a group of negotiators to help with
crafting more targeted forms of loan forgiveness.
Against backdrop of frustrated borrowersstudent loan debt forgiveness
committee meets
A primary concern laid out in Thursday’s GAO report was over some
borrowers with self-reported incomes. When the Education Department
rolled out Biden’s massive student debt relief plan last October, the
federal government didn’t verify some borrowers’ self-reported incomes
before approving them for relief, according to the auditors.
Education Department: GAO audit 'mischaracterizes' fraud prevention
efforts The Education Department minimized the findings.
In an Oct. 16 letter signed by Richard Cordray, the chief operating
officer for the Federal Student Aid program, the department said the
potential rate of fraud among applications would have been less than 1%
- even in the unlikeliest worst-case scenario.
“Faulting the Department’s implementation of its fraud risk management
strategy as incomplete, when federal court orders prevented the
Department from continuing to work on any aspect of the program,
mischaracterizes those efforts,” Cordray wrote in the letter responding
to GAO's findings.
Among other recommendations, the auditors suggested that the federal
government avoid relying on self-reported data in future loan relief
efforts. They also told the Education Department to fully implement all
stages of its risk management plan before embarking on any other relief.
New SAVE student loan repayment plan:Republicans tried to squash it. They
failed.
The department mostly agreed with those suggestions but dissented on some
of the technicalities. Cordray noted that the program "inherently had an
extremely low risk of fraud," "targeted a population of borrowers well
known to the Department" and offered debt relief, not cash payments.
The federal watchdog began its inquiry into the program before the Supreme
Court ruling in June, GAO spokesperson Chuck Young told USA TODAY in an
email. It was launched by GAO in the interest of program integrity, Young
said. Unlike some other audits, it was not conducted at the request of
Congress.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/11/16/bidens-first-
student-loan-forgiveness-fraud-problem/71610951007/
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