Latest news with #Walberg
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House GOP China hawks urge Duke to end its relationship with Chinese university
Two Republican critics of China are urging Duke University to end its partnership with a Chinese institution with close ties to the country's government. Rep. John Moolenaar and Rep. Tim Walberg said in a letter Wednesday to Duke that the partnership with Wuhan University helps facilitate the transfer of technology and skills to China. 'Wuhan University is not an ordinary academic institution,' they wrote in the letter to Duke President Vincent Price. 'It is a direct extension of the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus.' The letter from Moolenaar, who is chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Walberg echoes familiar government concerns about China's efforts to develop its economy with knowledge and technology from the U.S., often in the forms of research partnership with American institutions and companies. Duke confirmed in a statement that it had received the letter, and said the university would work 'to further educate Congress about Duke's global education mission.' Duke Kunshan University, near Shanghai, enrolls about 3,000 students, many of whom spend time and do research at the U.S. school's main campus in Durham, North Carolina. That's what Walberg and Moolenaar find troubling. They pointed to a 2024 joint report from the Select Committee on China and the House Education and Workforce Committee that found American research funding had contributed to technological and military advancements in Beijing. 'Given the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) well-documented efforts to exploit U.S. academic openness, this partnership creates a direct pipeline between U.S. innovation and China's military-industrial complex,' the pair wrote. Duke is one of many elite institutions caught in President Donald Trump's ongoing assault on higher education. Layoffs as a result of cuts to grants and contracts are likely, the university hinted in April. And Duke is already rolling out a voluntary buyout program as it readies for lower federal funding levels. Also this week, Moolenaar and Walberg joined Texas Republicans Roger Williams and Brian Babin in pushing university systems in California and New York to monitor small business grant programs for Chinese influence. 'American universities must be vigilant against foreign influence and infiltration — especially when partnered with small businesses developing cutting-edge technology,' Moolenaar said in a statement. 'This investigation is about safeguarding national security and making sure U.S. innovation benefits America, not the CCP.'
Politico
15-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
House GOP China hawks urge Duke to end its relationship with Chinese university
Two Republican critics of China are urging Duke University to end its partnership with a Chinese institution with close ties to the country's government. Rep. John Moolenaar and Rep. Tim Walberg said in a letter Wednesday to Duke that the partnership with Wuhan University helps facilitate the transfer of technology and skills to China. 'Wuhan University is not an ordinary academic institution,' they wrote in the letter to Duke President Vincent Price. 'It is a direct extension of the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus.' The letter from Moolenaar, who is chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Walberg echoes familiar government concerns about China's efforts to develop its economy with knowledge and technology from the U.S., often in the forms of research partnership with American institutions and companies. Duke confirmed in a statement that it had received the letter, and said the university would work 'to further educate Congress about Duke's global education mission.' Duke Kunshan University, near Shanghai, enrolls about 3,000 students, many of whom spend time and do research at the U.S. school's main campus in Durham, North Carolina. That's what Walberg and Moolenaar find troubling. They pointed to a 2024 joint report from the Select Committee on China and the House Education and Workforce Committee that found American research funding had contributed to technological and military advancements in Beijing. 'Given the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) well-documented efforts to exploit U.S. academic openness, this partnership creates a direct pipeline between U.S. innovation and China's military-industrial complex,' the pair wrote. Duke is one of many elite institutions caught in President Donald Trump's ongoing assault on higher education. Layoffs as a result of cuts to grants and contracts are likely, the university hinted in April. And Duke is already rolling out a voluntary buyout program as it readies for lower federal funding levels. Also this week, Moolenaar and Walberg joined Texas Republicans Roger Williams and Brian Babin in pushing university systems in California and New York to monitor small business grant programs for Chinese influence. 'American universities must be vigilant against foreign influence and infiltration — especially when partnered with small businesses developing cutting-edge technology,' Moolenaar said in a statement. 'This investigation is about safeguarding national security and making sure U.S. innovation benefits America, not the CCP.'
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Student Loan Shock — Payments May Increase By $5,000 Per Year Under New Law, Warns Group
UNITED STATES - APRIL 29: Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich. chairs the House Educaiton Committee ... More markup for the markup of the Fiscal 2025 Budget Resolution on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Walberg spoke out in favor of massive student loan reform, which was approved by committee Republicans this week. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) A student loan borrower advocacy organization is raising alarm bells over Republican plans to remake the federal student loan repayment system, warning that if it's enacted, the reforms could dramatically raise costs for working families who carry student loan debt. Earlier this week, a key House committee passed a sweeping bill intended to slash government spending associated with federal student aid programs. The legislation is one piece of a much broader effort by Republican lawmakers to extend and expand tax cuts through a process called budget reconciliation. The costs of those tax cuts, which could be several trillion dollars, would be offset in part by $330 billion in cuts to federal student loan repayment and forgiveness programs. GOP leaders argue that the cuts will streamline the federal student loan repayment system and make college more affordable. But borrower advocates have warned that the changes, if enacted, could be catastrophic, causing sharp payment increases for many Americans. 'Today, House Republicans showed their hand—tens of millions of students and working families across the country will see an affordable higher education pushed further out of reach and be forced to pay President Trump's government thousands of dollars more per year so that right-wing lawmakers can deliver trillions in tax cuts to Elon Musk and his billionaire buddies," said Student Borrower Protection Center policy director Aissa Canchola Bañez in a statement on Monday. 'Instead of bringing down the cost of college, House Republicans want to punish millions of borrowers desperately trying to repay their debts, pushing them further into the red while allowing some of the most predatory actors in higher ed to profiteer at their expense." Here's what student loan borrowers should know. One of the central features of the House GOP bill is the repeal of the SAVE plan, as well as all other current IDR plans (including Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, and Pay As You Earn) for student loan borrowers who take out loans after July 1, 2026. Meanwhile, current borrowers who have been enrolled in more affordable IDR programs like SAVE, PAYE, and a newer version of IBR would be forced into a more expensive version of IBR under the terms of the bill, increasing their payments. The student loan payment shock would be particularly acute for borrowers who had enrolled in the SAVE plan. SAVE was created by the Biden administration in 2023 to provide borrowers with much more affordable payments and a pathway to faster student loan forgiveness. But critics of the plan said it was too generous, and essentially operated as a costly backdoor student loan forgiveness plan. 'The Biden-Harris administration's foolish actions in the federal student loan program exacerbated this budgetary catastrophe,' said Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) in a statement on the House floor earlier this week. 'From their radical 'SAVE' loan repayment plan to the never-ending repayment pause, Democrats are intent on forcing taxpayers to pay for free college. Dumping more federal money into a broken system doesn't mean that system will work. In fact, government spending on higher education has reached record highs yet millions of students benefiting from those funds will ultimately end up with a degree that doesn't pay off or fail to finish school altogether.' Under the proposed legislation, the SAVE plan and the other IDR programs would be replaced by a new income-driven plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP. While RAP would operate in a similar way as the other programs, with monthly payments calculated based on a borrower's income and family size, the terms are not nearly as generous as the other plans, and especially when compared to SAVE. Borrowers would also not qualify for student loan forgiveness under the new plan until after 30 years in repayment – far longer than the 2o or 25 year repayment terms under SAVE, ICR, IBR, and PAYE. In a letter submitted to Chairman Walberg on Monday, the Student Borrower Protection Center warned that if the GOP proposal becomes law, many Americans will experience sharp increases in their monthly student loan payments, potentially costing them thousands of dollars more per year. 'Eight million borrowers last made payments under the SAVE plan in July 2024 and have had their ability to pay suspended for approximately nine months as a result of partisan lawsuits challenging the program,' said the SBPC in its letter. Under the terms of the new bill, "These borrowers will experience an immediate and unprecedented payment shock as their monthly payments jump from $0 per month to $431 for a typical single student loan borrower with a college degree—an annual increase of more than $5,000.' The SBPC wrote that a typical federal student loan borrower in a family of four, with an income of $80,263 and an undergraduate federal student debt balance of $38,374, would have had payments of $33 per month under the SAVE plan. But because of the eligibility parameters for the new GOP income-driven plan, they would not be eligible to repay their loans based on their income if the new bill becomes law. Instead, they would be placed in a Standard plan with payments of around $431 per month. The SBPC estimated that the family in this example would pay upwards of $4,700 more per year on their student loans than they would have under the SAVE plan if the GOP bill becomes law. 'Families across income levels will pay more money each month under the current proposal than under the SAVE plan,' wrote the SBPC. 'Additionally, the current proposal would impose higher monthly payments for borrowers and their families than almost every other payment plan.' Jason Delisle, a higher education and student loan expert at the Urban Institute, posted an analysis of the RAP plan on X that disputed this. Delisle indicated that monthly payments for middle-income borrowers would be comparable to the PAYE and new IBR plans, and payment under RAP could possibly be even slightly lower. But when compared to the SAVE plan, payments under RAP would almost universally be higher across the board. Furthermore, payments under the RAP plan would be higher for low-income borrowers than under any existing IDR option. That is because RAP has a minimum monthly payment requirement – a unique feature that is not part of ICR, IBR, PAYE, or SAVE. Under each of those plans, families living below the poverty line would have no monthly payment obligation. But that's not the case for the RAP plan. 'The bill reflects how out of step the drafters are with low-income Americans," said Abby Shafroth, co-director of advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center, in a statement on Tuesday. "House Republicans propose charging low-income students more interest by ending the subsidized loan program for students with financial need; more than tripling monthly bills for borrowers currently enrolled in SAVE; and requiring that even families living below the poverty line reallocate $120 each year from funds that would otherwise go towards food, rent, or medication or face default.' The full House has not yet passed the GOP proposal. The unveiling of the legislative text and passage by the Education and Workforce Committee is just the next step in what will be a lengthy process over the next several months to enact this, and many other separate proposals, through the budget reconciliation process. And whatever the House ultimately passes would need to be squared with whatever version of the bill the Senate passes (it's unclear at this stage whether GOP leaders in the House and Senate are aligned on these specific student loan reform plans). But Republican leaders in Congress hope to pass the reconciliation bill by this summer. The SBPC warned that passing the bill in its current form could be disastrous for borrowers, as the economy increasingly is flashing warning signs. 'As the committee considers this legislation, it is clear that a vote for this bill is a vote to saddle millions of borrowers across the country with more student loan debt, at the same moment that a slowing economy, a reckless trade war, and spiraling costs of living squeeze working families from every direction,' the group warned in its letter.
Epoch Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Overhaul of Biden-Era Student Loan Program Clears House Committee
A Republican-led House panel on April 29 supported a measure that caps the amount of federally backed student loans, protects taxpayers against debt forgiveness bailouts, and amends Pell grant requirements. The Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan Bill, passed by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce along party lines with a 21–14 vote, forms a component of the larger reconciliation bill, aimed at avoiding the 60-vote filibuster Senate requirement, to advance President Donald Trump's policy agenda. The legislation discussed Tuesday rolls back former President Joe Biden's student loan program, which did not impose limits on loan amounts and attempted to forgive more than $1 trillion in student loans without legislative approval, committee Republicans said. Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said this countermeasure will save taxpayers $330 billion. Loans are capped according to the median price of a college or university program of study, incentivizing colleges to reduce costs to remain competitive rather than continually raising tuition and fees in sync with skyrocketing government grant and loan amounts. 'It's no secret that spending in Washington has been a disaster,' Walberg said. 'Dumping more into a broken system doesn't mean that system will work. 'This is a cruel way to use borrowers as political pawns.' Related Stories 4/27/2025 4/10/2025 During the markup session, Democrats proposed several amendments to the bill, ranging from assuring borrowing students don't lose access to entitlement programs for food and medical care, to prohibiting the government from garnishing wages on defaulted loans, to counting the on-the-job training periods of physicians and teachers as years of service toward the 10-year service requirement for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. All amendments were voted down. Democrats said loan limits will restrict academic choices for students, resulting in the loss of college majors across the country and fewer Americans furthering their education. The cuts will also push many students to obtain private loans from predatory lenders with high-interest rates, they said. 'This bill turns financial aid from a bridge into a barrier,' said Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.). The bill also amends the Pell grant program, which currently provides up to $7,295 annually to full-time, low-income students. Walberg, noting that Pell is on track to run a shortfall of $70 billion to $100 billion within a decade, wants to increase the full-time academic requirement from 12 credits per semester to 30 credits a year, and also expand it to include short-term vocational programs. Opponents said the increased credit requirement is unfair to nontraditional students who are also working full-time or raising children. 'It makes college access harder for everyday Americans,' said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking committee member.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The new GOP plan for student-loan borrowers: longer repayment periods and fewer options for debt relief
House Republicans unveiled their bill to overhaul the education system on Monday. It proposes reducing student-loan repayment plans to two options and eliminating federal PLUS loans. It would scrap the most generous plans, likely meaning higher payments and less debt relief. House Republicans' education plan would mean sweeping changes — and fewer avenues for relief — for millions of student-loan borrowers. Rep. Tim Walberg, chair of the House education committee, unveiled on Monday the committee's legislation to reshape education and the student financial aid system. The 100-page budget bill would have big implications for student-loan borrowers — if passed, the bill would scrap existing affordable repayment plans and penalize colleges that load students up with unaffordable debt. The committee said in a press release that the bill is intended to save over $330 billion by "strengthening accountability for students and taxpayers, streamlining student loan options, and simplifying student loan repayment." "The bill also includes other reforms that will lower costs for students and families while ensuring the fiscal sustainability of targeted programs like the Pell Grant," Walberg said in a statement. "Bottom line, it's time to fix this broken cycle that is costly to taxpayers and leaves students worse off than if they never went to college." One proposal within the bill calls for condensing the existing repayment plans into just two plans: one of them is a standard repayment plan with a fixed monthly payment amount over a fixed period of time, and the second option is what the legislation calls the Repayment Assistance Plan, which allows for loan cancellation after 360 qualifying payments. The plan ensures that borrowers who are consistent with their monthly payments would not see their balances increase due to interest. Notably, the bill would eliminate former President Joe Biden's SAVE plan. Biden created the plan in 2023 to give borrowers cheaper monthly payments with a shorter timeline to debt relief, but it's currently blocked in court, and President Donald Trump's administration said it would not revive the plan. The bill also proposed eliminating federal direct PLUS student loans, which allow parents and graduate or professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for their programs. Those starting their education on or after July 1, 2026, would not be eligible for PLUS loans, which have the highest interest rate of all federal loans. Other provisions in the bill include measures to hold colleges financially accountable if students take out debt they cannot afford, along with expanding the Pell Grant to low-income students in short-term programs while removing access to the grant for students enrolled in under six credit hours. Some advocates criticized the GOP proposal. Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the advocacy group Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a statement that "this is a return to the worst failures of the past: 30 years of traps, tricks, and broken promises, where only a handful of borrowers ever see relief." Sameer Gadkaree, president and CEO of The Institute for College Access and Success, said in a statement that the GOP's "current proposal would severely restrict college access by slashing financial aid programs, eliminating basic consumer protections, and making it harder to repay student loan debt." The bill is being marked up on Tuesday and is still subject to change. It comes as Trump's administration seeks to overhaul higher education; also on Tuesday, the Department of Education is holding public hearings on its proposal to limit eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The department is also restarting collections on defaulted student loans beginning May 5, after a five-year pause. "As we plan for the department's future, we won't leave the loan portfolio in disarray," Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in The Wall Street Journal. "We are committed to ensuring that borrowers are paying back their loans, that they are fully supported in doing so, and that colleges can't create such a massive liability for students and their families, jeopardizing their ability to achieve the American dream." Read the original article on Business Insider
