Rep. Aderholt confronts Biden's Secretary of Education with breakdown of policy, priority failures – 'We can and must do better'

Congressman Robert Aderholt took U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to task on Wednesday in a House budget hearing on a number of topics.

In his remarks, Aderholt first confronted Cardona on the Department of Education’s efforts to gut Title IX.

“When you came before this Subcommittee last year, I and many of my colleagues expressed disbelief with the Department’s proposed Title Nine rule that would force schools to allow biological teen males into girls’ locker rooms and promote unfair competition on the playing field,” said Aderholt.

“The original intent of Title Nine was to protect women, so I hope your Department’s delay in finalizing this misguided rule signals that the Administration agrees with most of America that this proposal would harm women and girls in sports and set them back decades.”

The Congressman’s following line of questioning was focused on the Department’s budget proposal for 2025.

“Turning now to your budget proposal, I am concerned about the new programs, increases, and cuts proposed in your Fiscal Year 2025 budget and what they say about the Department’s priorities,” Aderholt said. “Twenty-five million dollars for a new preschool demonstration, $10 million for an unnecessary initiative for fostering diverse schools, and large increases to administrative accounts to carry out student loan debt transfers funded by new budget gimmicks are just a few of the issues that concern me.”

Aderholt said that the budget should provide for established educational necessities in an effort to help minimize student absences from school.

“Rather than create more new programs, along with the additional bureaucracy they necessarily carry, I think our education budget needs to focus back on the basics. Four years after schools were shut down across this country, twenty-six percent of all students are still chronically absent from schools.”

“For the poorest students, that number rises to a staggering 32 percent. Obviously, if children are not in school, they are not learning.”

He asked Cardona how the new budget requests will improve the quality of education in the U.S.

“How would the proposals in your budget get these kids back into classrooms? How would they address the significant declines in math and reading scores, felt hardest in minority communities? How would they help regain the trust of parents?”

“These are the tough questions the budget needs to address.”

Aderholt also inquired about recent funding cuts to charter schools.

“I am similarly puzzled by your Department’s proposal to cut grants to Charter Schools by $40 million,” Aderholt said. “This program has been flat funded for five years, but Charter Schools are outperforming traditional public schools in student achievement.”

“At a time when our nation faces skyrocketing debt and inflation, we should be targeting investments in education in what works. Not towards duplicative, ideological programs that sound nice but make no real difference in learning.”

Cancelling student loans was a major point of contention during the hearing.

“Your budget also proposes a $600 million increase for the office that oversees federal student aid programs, including the Department’s student loan cancellation schemes,” noted Aderholt. “Even though the Supreme Court struck down the president’s signature, one-time student loan cancellation program, your Department has doubled down on cancelling loans through other avenues.”

Aderholt claimed that Cardona’s department has “boasted” about cancelling $144 billion in student loans so far.

“This does not even account for the new loan repayment plan the Department unilaterally created last year, which makes loan repayment even more generous including by cutting borrowers’ payments in half and accelerating loan forgiveness for some borrowers. Last September, the Congressional Budget Office estimated this repayment program would cost $260 billion over the ten-year budget window.”

“It’s clear the Department’s student loan forgiveness policies are unfair to Americans who did not go to college or paid back their loans, and they send a dangerous message to students: borrow more and just send taxpayers the bill.”

Aderholt also addressed a foundational issue he also thinks the current administration is moving in the wrong direction on: Free speech.

“I also continue to hear about how free speech is under attack on college campuses across the country. Our colleges and universities should be places that support free academic inquiry and where diverse ideas can be expressed and exchanged,” Aderholt continued.

“So, it is alarming to hear about speakers being disinvited or angrily shouted down at events, or about faculty being canceled for expressing views that do not conform to popular thinking on campus.”

He then cited statistics showing just how endangered free speech on college campuses actually is.

“According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions, more than half – or 56% – of students surveyed for their 2024 College Free Speech Rankings report said they worried about reputational harm because someone misunderstood something they said or did,” Aderholt revealed. “Twenty-eight percent of students said they engage in self-censorship “fairly often” or “very often” during class discussions. One in five students said it is not clear their campus administration protects free speech, and 43% said it’s only “somewhat” clear that free speech is protected.”

“These statistics are concerning. We can and must do better.”

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.