WASHINGTON - Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to Education Under Secretary James Kvaal to set the record straight after he mislead the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development during its hearing on May 24, 2023. Under Secretary Kvaal insisted that the Department of Education provided Chairwoman Foxx an unredacted copy of the final valuation report showing the student loan program was nearly half a trillion dollars in the red before the Biden administration took office. Contrary to Kvaal’s repeated assertions, the Department never provided this report to the Committee.
In the letter, Foxx writes: “Despite executing a ‘False Statements Certification’ wherein you acknowledged that providing materially false information to a committee or subcommittee is a crime … your answers to my questions at the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing on May 24, 2023, may include false statements."
The letter continues: “You unequivocally stated three times that the Department had provided an unredacted final copy of the final valuation report prepared by FI Consulting, in spite of my repeated insistence that your statements were inaccurate. Let me be crystal clear: I have never received the final unredacted copy of the report and its accompanying documents, contrary to your assertions on May 24."
Foxx concludes: “Finally, I note that in my question-and-answer exchange with you at our May 24, 2023, hearing of the Subcommittee, I recounted the long history of my efforts to obtain all documents related to the valuation of the student loan portfolio, including unredacted reports. … I find that lack of responsiveness to Congress patently offensive, particularly in light of the Department’s responsiveness to other parties."