Congresswoman Bush Requests Missouri AG Office Hold MOHELA Accountable
Missouri AG Office successfully struck down student debt relief for millions claiming financial harm to the state
READ MORE: Business Insider, “Democratic lawmaker says it's time for it to pay up”
Washington D.C. (Jan. 18, 2023) — Today, Congresswoman Cori Bush’s (MO-01) sent a letter to the Attorney General’s Office of Missouri expressing her disappointment in the role that the Attorney General’s (AG) Office played in blocking student debt relief for millions of borrowers across the country, including over 800,000 borrowers in Missouri.
Furthermore, Congresswoman Bush directly questioned the Office of the Attorney General on how they plan to ensure that the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) fulfills its financial obligations and pays back the debt of nearly $107 million to the state of Missouri.
The Missouri AG’s office was able to successfully block the much-needed student debt relief for over 40 million borrowers—claiming that student debt cancellation would threaten the revenue of MOHELA, thereby harming the state of Missouri. However, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the credibility behind the Missouri AG’s claims were ultimately called into question when it came to light that MOHELA owed money to the state of Missouri. If the state has not received money from MOHELA’s operations before student debt cancellation, it severely undermines the validity of the argument that Missouri financially relied on MOHELA.
“Federal student debt relief efforts were halted due to unfounded concerns that if MOHELA lost revenue, the state of Missouri would be financially harmed. As you most certainly know, MOHELA owes nearly $107 million debt to the state of Missouri,” wrote Congresswoman Bush. She later continued to write, “MOHELA has since recovered financially and remained more profitable than ever, particularly since its acquisition of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) accounts, which represent a huge increase in business. I would like information about how [the Office of the Attorney General is] working to ensure MOHELA plans to pay back its own debts to the state and continue to make financial contributions to the higher education system in Missouri.”
A copy of this letter can be found HERE.
The Congresswoman’s letter goes on to further highlight the troubling business practices of MOHELA and the Missouri AG’s office failure to engage fully with the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking process to craft future student debt relief policies. Congresswoman Bush asked for a response to her questions no later than February 20, 2024.
While in Congress, Congresswoman Bush has been leading the charge in calling for President Biden to address the student loan debt crisis and its disproportionate impact on Black borrowers. In May 2022, she joined the Congressional Black Caucus in calling on President Biden to take action on canceling student debt and has consistently championed the need to cancel the more than $1.9 trillion in student loan debt. In October 2022, Congresswoman Bush and Alma Adams (NC-12) sent a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requesting that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) receive targeted outreach about the student debt relief program because Black borrowers carry the heaviest debt burden.
Congresswoman Bush has also led efforts to hold student loan servicers accountable. In October 2022, she sent a letter to the Executive Director 0f MOHELA, demanding the company halt efforts to block millions of people from accessing economic relief through the Biden Administration’s historic student loan debt relief program. About a month later, MOHELA broke their silence and responded to the Congresswoman stating that their “executives were not involved” in the lawsuit, and further stressed that as a governmental entity, they "do not exist to make profits," and they would fulfill its “obligations pursuant to its federal servicing loan contract” - essentially implying that they would support Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan.
In June 2023, when the Supreme Court ultimately announced its 6-3 ruling striking down President Biden’s plan to provide student debt relief for millions nationwide, Congresswoman Bush released a statement, found HERE.
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