Public service employees who are part of a federal loan forgiveness program could be at risk of having to pay back their student loans if their work doesn’t align with the president’s agenda.
“A lot of these people work for, for NGO organizations, for nonprofit organizations that engage in illegal or what we would consider to be improper activities,” White House Staff Secretary William Scharf said.
President Donald Trump plans to sign an order directing the Education and Treasury Departments to look into who’s part of the program and what they do.
It comes days after Education Secretary Linda McMahon was sworn in to lead a department the president wants to dismantle.
“We’re clearly not doing something right,” McMahon said.
McMahon says she supports the president’s mission.
“He believes as do I, that the best education is closest to the student,” McMahon said.
President Trump says states know what’s best for students, not the federal government.
“They’re going to do a lot better than somebody sitting in Washington, D.C. that couldn’t care less about the pupils out in the Midwest,” Trump said.
Democrats in Congress are against shutting down the Department of Education.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy says it would hurt schools that rely on federal funding.
“Nobody in America wants the destruction of public education,” Murphy said.
