{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-merkley-call-on-department-of-education-to-discharge-loans-for-defrauded-borrowers", "Wyden, Merkley Call on Department of Education to Discharge Loans for Defrauded Borrowers", "2024-12-06", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "OR", "Ron Wyden", "W000779", "www.wyden.senate.gov", "wyden", "https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said today they have joined with lawmakers from the Senate and House to urge the Department of Education to discharge student loan debt for hundreds of thousands of students in Oregon and nationwide defrauded by predatory schools.\n\nDuring the first Trump administration, defrauded borrowers\u2019 applications for debt relief were left to languish for years, and if reviewed, were often denied. In their letter, the lawmakers called for the Department to use its authority to immediately discharge debt.\n\nSince 2022, the Department has announced group discharges for more than 1.2 million individuals who attended schools that engaged in documented fraud and misconduct, including ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges. Yet, hundreds of thousands of borrowers are still awaiting their discharges. Many additional borrowers are eligible for borrower defense group discharge because they attended schools for which the Department possesses evidence of fraud and misconduct; 400,000 borrowers have submitted individual applications for borrower defense discharges that the Department has yet to process.\n\nIn the letter to the Department of Education, the lawmakers wrote, \u201cThe Biden administration has demonstrated a commitment to supporting student borrowers and mitigating the devastating impact of student loan debt, including issuing targeted debt relief to hundreds of thousands of borrowers defrauded by predatory higher education institutions.\u201d\n\nThe lawmakers continued, \u201cWe urge the Department of Education to follow through on its commitment by immediately processing debt discharges for borrowers already approved for relief; issuing additional discharges for students who attended institutions with documented histories of predatory practices; and processing any outstanding borrower defense applications.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Senators Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who led the letter, the letter was cosigned along with by Wyden and Merkley, as well as Senators Tina Smith, D-Minn., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.\n\nIn addition to Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who led the letter in the House, the letter was cosigned by Reps. Andr\u00e9 Carson, D-Ind., Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., Robin L. Kelly, D-Ill., Jan Schakowsk, D-Ill., Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Joe Courtney, D-Conn., Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Julia Brownley, D-Calif., Erica Lee Carter, D-Texas, Gwen S. Moore, D-Wis., Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., Alma S. Adams Ph.D., D-N.C., Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn., Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., Cori Bush, D-Mo., Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., Greg Casar, D-Texas, Mark Takano, D-Calif., Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Delia C. Ramirez, D-Ill., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Nydia M. Vel\u00e1zquez, D-N.Y., Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., John B. Larson, D-Conn., Lucy McBath, D-Ga., Jes\u00fas G. \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda, D-Ill., Summer L. Lee, D-Pa., Yvette D. Clarke, D-N.Y., Al Green, D-Texas, Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., Dwight Evans, D-Pa., Frederica S. Wilson, D-Fla., Hank Johnson, D-Ga., Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., Adam Smith, D-Wash., Sylvia R. Garcia, D-Texas, Nanette Diaz Barrag\u00e1n, D-Calif., Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Va., Sean Casten, D-Ill., Grace Meng, D-N.Y., Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., Nikema Williams, D-Ga., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-merkley-call-on-department-of-education-to-discharge-loans-for-defrauded-borrowers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6363291069865227, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}