On June 28, the Department of Education rescinded “gainful employment” regulations, which was one of the most controversial and litigated of President Obama’s higher education agenda. It’s ironic that in a time when Republicans and Democrats agree on so few issues, the one issue where there is bipartisan agreement — a need for greater accountability in higher education — caused the two groups to become so bitterly divided on regulations that attempted to hold schools more accountable.
The lesson? Process matters, and sidestepping Congress means you can win short-term policy battles, but still lose in the end.
Once a skeptic of executive power, Obama, according to The New York Times, became one of the most prolific regulators in modern presidential history. For most of his term, he faced a Republican-controlled Congress. Party leaders could not seem to come together to do much of anything consequential, including keeping the government funded. There is plenty of blame to go around on political impasses, but the president was determined to move forward with or without Congress. In his 2014 State of the Union address, the president stated flatly that “wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”