House Democrats couldn’t get enough Republicans to join them today in voting to override Trump’s veto of student loan forgiveness bill. On a vote of 238-173, Democrats were unable to get to the two-thirds majority needed to be successful. Only six Republicans voted with the Democrats to overturn the rule. The vote came just before the House considered a vote for statehood for the District of Columbia.
The bill, House Joint Resolution 76, was sponsored by Representative Susie Lee (D-NV) and would’ve overturned a new rule from Education Secretary DeVos on student loan forgiveness. The new DeVos rule—known as borrower defense—would change the standard for students seeking forgiveness under the claim that they were defrauded by their college or university.
After delaying a rule from the Obama administration, Secretary DeVos wrote her own rule that created a nearly impossible burden of proof for student borrowers. Under the Obama rule, a student just needed to show a substantial misrepresentation by the school to receive relief.