Tag Archives: Betsy DeVos

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Monday accused many in the media of using her name as “clickbait,” telling an audience of journalists that “education is not about Betsy DeVos nor any other individual.” DeVos, speaking at the National Education Writers Association conference in Baltimore, acknowledged she’s not comfortable in the spotlight and never imagined she’d be the focus …

The Washington Post reports: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that his panel would make a criminal referral to the Justice Department regarding potential false testimony by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the private military contractor Blackwater and an ally of President Trump. “The evidence is so weighty that the Justice Department needs to consider …

Josh Israel reports at Think Progress: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will testify before Congress on Wednesday about her priorities for the department, weeks after she proposed billions of dollars in cuts for education spending in fiscal year 2020. DeVos has labeled the cuts “tough choices,” but new analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) shows DeVos’ personal …

USA Today reports: President Donald Trump said he would jettison a proposal to slash funding for the Special Olympics, undercutting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. “The Special Olympics will be funded. I just told my people I want to fund the Special Olympics,” Trump said he left the White House en route to a political rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. “I …

The Guardian reports: A Hong Kong-listed security firm founded by Erik Prince has signed a preliminary deal with authorities in China to build a training centre in Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have experienced a huge security crackdown. Frontier Services Group, which specialises in providing security and logistics for businesses operating in risky regions, said it had signed a deal to …

Politico reports: The Trump administration said Thursday it will cancel thousands of borrowers’ federal student loans, carrying out an Obama-era policy that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had fought to kill. The move comes as DeVos is being forced to implement a package of regulations that created more protections for student loan borrowers who were affected by a school closure or …

NBC News reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began receiving around-the-clock security from the U.S. Marshals Service days after being confirmed, an armed detail provided to no other cabinet member that could cost U.S. taxpayers $19.8 million through September of 2019, according to new figures provided by the Marshals Service to NBC News. That far exceeds the $3.5 million spent on …

Courthouse News reports: Despite a court order voiding efforts to delay Obama-era student borrower protections, the U.S. government continues to collect money from borrowers who are entitled to automatic debt relief, a consumer advocacy group claims in a new lawsuit. In September, a federal judge in Washington D.C. found the Education Department’s delays in implementing the rule unlawful. One month …

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ security detail is projected to cost up to $7.74 million from now through the end of September 2019, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told POLITICO on Tuesday night. The Marshals Service said the final cost of protection for DeVos in fiscal 2018 was $6.79 million. That’s more than the $6.54 million officials …

The New York Times reports: The Education Department is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding to purchase guns for educators, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plan. Such a move appears to be unprecedented, reversing a longstanding position taken by the federal government that it should not pay to outfit schools with weapons. And it …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump is increasingly venting frustration to his national security team about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and showing renewed interest in a proposal by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to privatize the war, current and former senior administration officials said. Prince’s idea, which first surfaced last year during the president’s Afghanistan strategy review, envisions replacing troops …

The New York Daily News reports: An online petition advocating for LeBron James to replace Betsy DeVos as the United States Secretary of Education is garnering a wave of public support. More than 16,000 people have signed the plea, which was published to the Care2 Petitions website less than two weeks after the new Los Angeles Laker opened a public …

The Toledo Blade reports: A boat owned by the family of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was vandalized over the weekend while moored at a Huron dock, according to the Huron Police Department. The Seaquest was moored at the Huron Boat Basin, 330 Main St., according to a police report. The captain of the 163-foot yacht, worth a reported …

From a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Beast: “I certainly understand the intense interest in the investigation and certainly some of the wild-eyed reporting in the media. I have spoken voluntarily to Congress and I also cooperated with the special counsel. I have plenty of opinions about the various investigations but there’s no question some people are taking it seriously …

The Huffington Post reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who sparked a firestorm last week when she said it was a school’s choice to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report potentially undocumented students, changed her tune Tuesday, telling a Senate subcommittee she doesn’t think schools can call ICE on undocumented students. DeVos’ reversal came during a tense exchange with Sen. …

Via press release: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s premier civil rights organization yesterday filed a lawsuit along with the National Federation of the Blind and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates against the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. District Court …

The New York Times reports: Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top …

The Daily Beast reports: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has spoken with Blackwater founder Erik Prince, two sources familiar with the matter tell The Daily Beast. It was not immediately clear what questions Mueller’s team had or what information Prince shared with the special counsel. Prince attended a now-controversial meeting with the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund in the …

The Washington Post reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asked her department’s Office of Inspector General if grounds existed to prosecute employees who leaked budget data to The Washington Post and unclassified information to Politico, according to an internal department report. The response: It would be challenging, because the department has “little” written policy or guidance on how employees are supposed …

The Hill reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took a shot at the CBS news program “60 Minutes” on Tuesday, days after she was criticized for struggling to answer basic questions about school performance and education policy during a pointed interview that aired Sunday on the program. In a keynote address to the National PTA Legislative Conference in Crystal City, Va., …