Cardona pitches higher ed priorities during House grilling

HIGHER ED DIVE

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

June 24, 2021

Dive Brief:

• U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was in the hot seat Thursday, answering questions about his agency’s priorities during a virtual House education committee hearing.

• Many of House lawmakers’ higher education-related questions revolved around reworking the federal student loan system.

• However, several Republican legislators also brought up concerns dominating conservative circles, including foreign influence on college campuses and the teaching ideas of critical race theory.  

Dive Insight:

Cardona opened the House Committee on Education and Labor’s roughly five-hour hearing with a pitch for President Joe Biden’s spending plans.

He highlighted an almost $103 billion proposal for the Education Department that would significantly boost the size of the maximum federal Pell Grant award, and pieces of the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which would make two years of community college free and heavily subsidize tuition at four-year minority-serving institutions.

Many lawmakers who spoke during the hearing asked about the federal student loan system, including if and when the Education Department would extend the pandemic-era pause on loan repayments, which is set to expire at the end of September.

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