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Senators Urge Action to Protect Service Members’ Education Benefits; Warn Against CFPB Rollback
Summary
Ranking member Elizabeth Warren pressed service leaders on delivering Public Service Loan Forgiveness and on the consequences for service members if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other enforcement elements are weakened.
WASHINGTON — Senators pressed military leaders on June 1 to ensure service members receive promised education benefits and to guard against actions that would weaken enforcement of consumer protections for military families.
“The promise is not charity. It is an ironclad commitment,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in her opening remarks, arguing that the GI Bill and student-loan protections are critical to recruitment and retention. Warren cited the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s record returning more than $363 million to service members and veterans and warned that dismantling the bureau would make service members vulnerable to scams and predatory practices.
Warren asked whether delivering student-loan benefits and preventing predatory actors undermines recruiting and retention; witnesses from all services answered in the affirmative. “Yes, ma’am,” Lieutenant General Brian Eifler said when asked whether ensuring debt relief under Public Service Loan Forgiveness is important. Vice Admiral Richard Cheeseman Jr., Lieutenant General Michael Borgschulte, Lieutenant General Caroline M. Miller and Catherine Kelly likewise agreed that protecting educational benefits and preventing fraud is important to recruitment and retention.
Warren said she has proposed NDAA language this year to require DOD to provide quarterly updates until a Public Service Loan Forgiveness data match is implemented and to require a GAO analysis of challenges service members face with loan repayment. She also said she proposed requiring DOD to use risk-based surveys — already statutorily required for the Department of Veterans Affairs — to monitor fraud at schools receiving substantial service-member tuition assistance.
Witnesses told senators they support delivering benefits and preventing predatory behavior; they agreed such enforcement is important to service readiness and retention. The panel did not take legislative action at the hearing but lawmakers indicated they would continue to press the department to implement protections and data matches.
Ending — Senators requested written updates on data-match implementation, DOD monitoring plans, and GAO analyses required by proposed NDAA language; no formal votes were taken.
