Were grawded and defrauded and relieved of some of all of our student debt. 220,000 student borrowers are waiting for betsy devos to do something but they havent done anything except for them having to be harder to prove it. Each of these students are supposed to get their own lawyer, their own investigator and prove the fraud. Is that reasonable for a young student carrying a student debt whos been defrauded to have that responsibility . Secretary devos thinks yes. I think no. And thats what this vote is all about. Who agrees about my with my position on this issue . Most of the advocates for students, but also the Veterans Organization across america led by the american legion. They are supporting our effort now, under this congressional review act, to do away with the new education secretary rule. They say it is unfair to veterans and it is it and unfair to student borrowers. Bill oxford called the rule that were going to get a chance to rule on after the debate fundamentally rigged against defrauded borrowers. Hes speaking on behalf of veterans. He could be speaking on behalf of young men and women across america who have been misled by these schools over and over again. The Bipartisan Center action, naacp, third way, 20 associate attorneys general and others have joined me to have this rule overturned. Today the senate has a chance to show the country that we can come together and do the right things for students and veterans. How many times have we given speeches about how much we care about veterans . Heres a chance to vote with the veterans, those especially who have been defrauded out of their g. I. Bill of rights. How many times have people told us, these student debts are too much, they are ruining kids lives. Give them a chance. Im not for forgiving all loans to all students, but these students have been defrauded. They should have an opportunity to start life again and not burdened with a debt that will make their liesm impossible. I hope life impossible. I hope my colleagues will join me. Regardless of what you think of the 2016 rule, we can do better than what secretary devos has come up with. Mr. President , i understand ive been advised that were not quite ready for my request of the chair and so i will say a couple of more words on the subject. I moved it along quickly but didnt have to. Under the new betsy devos rule, it turns out that of the 100 of students who were asking for leaf being defrauded, under her rule an estimate is 3 3 will be successful. 97 of these students will not have their opportunity to get this leaf. One relief. One of my colleagues who i respect very much came to the floor here and said, if your car is a lemon, the senator said, you dont sue the bank, you sue the dealer. A college can be a lemon just like a car can be. Well, in his scenario the school is the dealer and the department of education is the bank, but the case that hes making for students who are defrauded by a school sold a lemon of an education, we should go after the offending school. Wouldnt that sound right if the school defrauded you, you should be able to go after them. It turns out the rule that secretary devos promulgated ties the hands of those going after the school. You cant take them to court. It eliminates class actions so students from the same school, like Corinthian College that went bankrupt keefnt come together as a class cant even come together as a class. You have to lawyer up individually. You have to get ready to fight in court or some room thats been set aside where the forprofit school, department of education, is going to argue against you. Is that we what what we want to say to these students who had a bad College Experience and want to get on with their lives and that these forprofit colleges didnt transfer anywhere and that these this did not lead to a job. The question is, are we going to stand up for the students, many of whom are veterans or are we going to stand up for the schools that have been affected by this. I am at this point going to ask that we at least i dont know if the paperwork is ready yet or not. It is not . I suggest a quorum. The presiding officer then the clerk should call the roll. Quorum call mr. Durbin mr. President. The presiding officer the assistant democratic leader. Mr. Durbin i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin i understand there is a discharge position at the desk for Senate Joint Resolution 56 signed by at least 30 senators which will cause the joint resolution to be discharged under the congressional review act, is that correct . Yes, it is. Mr. Durbin i move to the joint under chapter 8, title 5 of the u. S. Code relating to borrower defense institutional accountability. The presiding officer the question is on the motion to proceed. Mr. Durbin i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. There is. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, the yeas are 55, the nays are 41. The motion is agreed the clerk will report. The clerk 439, s. J. Res. 56, joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States code, and so forth. Mr. Wicker madam president . The presiding officer the senator from mississippi. Mr. Wicker i rise tonight in support of the broadband data act and in a moment i will make a unanimous consent request with regard to that legislation. This bill will ensure that the federal Election Commission has the most broadband accurate coverage maps in the world today to deploy 5g networks. As you know, we are in a race to win that race globally and i think we can still do it. In december the Senate Unanimously passed this measure, s. 1822, but because the house passed a slightly amended version last week, we need to act again to get this bill across the finish line. We have a Digital Divide in this country which threatens to leave Rural America behind, and weve done a lot to address that divide. However, an estimated 20 million Americans Still lack access to broadband. Americans, like those in arizona or mississippi or other states across our heartland. Every year the f. E. C. Spends billions of years to promote deployment of broadband across the United States. S. 1822 will result in highly detailed and accurate maps so that the f. E. C. Can direct support to areas most in need. This legislation represents extensive negotiation and work on a bipartisan basis for which i congratulate this senate and in a bicameral basis. My hat is off to my colleagues in the other body and thanks to all the staff whove helped on both sides of the aisle. And so, madam president , i ask the chair lay before the senate the message to accompany s. 1822. The presiding officer the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. The clerk resolve, that the bill from the senate, s. 1822, entitled an act to require the federal Communications Commission to issue rules related to the collection of data with respect to the availability of Broadband Services and for other purposes do pass with an amendment. Mr. Wicker and now, i move to concur in the house amendment and i ask unanimous consent that the motion be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered laid made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection, so ordered. Mr. Wicker thank you, madam president. The presiding officer the senator from from ohio. Mr. Braun thank you, madam president. I want to thank my colleague, senator let me start again. I want to thank my colleague, senator durbin, for leading efforts this week to undo betsy devos harmful rollback of protections for millions of americans with loans ripped off by shady forprofit colleges. This is an example where the senate stood up to the president , stood up to the billionaire secretary of education Whose Mission in that job is to privatize and turn big privatize Public Education and turn profits for her and her friends and her allies, and this senate bipartisanly stood up to her, stood up to the president , stood up to the majority leader and did the right thing. Weve seen these forprofit colleges in ohio, schools like corinthian and i. T. T. They make big promises with fake this is the time the word fake is accurate. They make big promises with fake or deceptive job placement rates. They trick students into taking out huge loans only to close up shop and leave them with meaningless degrees or, worse yet, just credits but always mountains of debt. These are people trying to get an education, to improve their job prospects. To build a better life. Too often these predatory schools target black and black students, latino students, lowincome students, firstgeneration College Students. Many of them are veterans returning from serving our country starting in and looking to start a new career. These forprofit colleges are willing to exploit people who have taken out loans to go there, who are veterans. Sometimes they go to school, they serve their country, they come back, they go to school. And theyre willing to take advantage of them. These forprofit schools, its all about lining the pocket of their c. E. O. s. We need to stand with defrauded student borrowers. We need to hold these forprofit schools accountable. But of course weve learned not to hold our breath when it comes to the Trump Administration holding anyone accountable. At least holding anyone rich and powerful accountable. Instead of figuring out how to provide relief for students, secretary devos, betsy devos went to work figuring out how to let the schools that scammed them off the hook. 300,000 people submitted borrower defense claims as of last december. More than 200,000 of those requests are still pending. More than 7700 ohioans, 7,700 people in my state are waiting for relief. In 2016, the Obama Administration announced a rule to help these students get their loans canceled, but, madam president , the Devos Department of education, the Trump Department of education dragged its feet on processing borrower defense claims, they rewrote the rule to make it damn near impossible for defrauded students to get the relief they were promised. They were throwing up hurdle after hurdle, narrow time limits, making students gather all kinds of unnecessary paperwork, banning students from appealing a decision. Devos rule opens up the schools for schools to once again use mandatory arbitration. Im not a lawyer, but i know from seeing this done to far too many of my constituents, its legal fine print that forprofit schools sneak into their enrollment agreements that deny students their day in court. Students dont know they are part of these agreements. They lose their day in court. I hear from ohioans all the time who have been scammed by these schools. Tasha burkeholder came to washington last month to bring attention to this important issue. She is an army veteran. She served our country with honor. She is a mother of four. She returned home. She wanted to do forensics with the f. B. I. , so she enrolled in i. T. T. s criminal justice program. She didnt think of it as a forprofit school. She didnt know she was about to get scammed. She had served our country, she wanted to serve our country further. She went to this forprofit school. I. T. T. Told her that her g. I. Benefits would cover the full tuition and they would help her get a job after graduation. When she began to suspect the program wasnt the highquality education that it claimed and tried to transfer, she found out that no other schools, no other legitimate schools would accept her i. T. T. Credits. The supposedly hightech school was using outdated books. Faced with a choice of continuing at i. T. T. Or starting completely over, she finished her degree. She ended up 100,000 in debt. Remember, madam president , i. T. T. Told her the g. I. Bill would cover everything. Well, except for 100,000. She ended up 100,000 in debt with a degree that unfortunately employers didnt take seriously. Those are the people that secretary devos, those are the people that President Trump with his own Trump University want to take over our Higher Education system. Now she has lost her shot at using the g. I. Benefit she earned, she is drowning in debt. Ms. Burkeholder and other student veterans defrauded by shady schools deserve better than the treatment they are getting under betsy devos. Not only is betsy devos refusing to help, her new borrower defense rule will let other forprofit colleges continue to run the same scams on other students and student veterans. The Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau is supposed to crack down on these schools and Loan Servicing companies that handle peoples Student Loans. Thats why we created the cfpb to look out for people like miss burkeholder. But under President Trump, under betsy devos, they refused to let the cfpb look into Loan Services that are scamming students. I asked the cfpb director today about this. We have been asking her for a year to take this over and make it work. She continues to yield to her billionaire billionaire friend in the cabinet, secretary devos, who is a billionaire friend of the billionaire president , and continues has no interest in making them accountable. President trumps cfpb director is rolling over, refusing to do her job, protecting the tens of millions of americans with Student Loans. It comes back, madam president , always to whose side are you on . Are you going to stand with student veterans or are you going to stand with these forprofit c. E. O. s, these c. E. O. s of forprofit schools that are literally making a Million Dollars a year . Are you going to fight for defrauded americans saddled with Student Loans or the shady schools ripping them off . Its pretty clear with whom President Trump and betsy devos are standing. Over and over and over, President Trumps administration betrayed the people he promised to fight for. Im glad my colleagues stood up today. It was a bipartisan victory. It said to President Trump and betsy devos and majority leader mcconnell that that kind of fraud, that kind of exploitation is something that we will no longer accept. To our veterans, to other students who were defrauded by these forprofit colleges. Madam president , i ask that the following remarks be at a different point in the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Brown thank you, madam president. I rise to honor a leader in the fight for justice, a great ohioan who we lost last month, judge Nathaniel Jones. At a ceremony dedicating the federal courthouse in honor of judge jones in 2003, former congressman louis stokes said that the courthouse served as a testament to the Outstanding Public Service by a local who made good. Judge jones certainly was that. Born in youngstown in 1926, he served a country that did not yet recognize his full legal equality. He served his country in world war ii. He went on first to be a journalist, to work for youngstown and to work for the youngstown newspaper. He covered Jackie Robinson when Jackie Robinson played in aaa and game a friend of his. He went on to become a respected lawyer, a federal judge, an International Civil and human rights advocate. He was a local who made good but more importantly, he was a man who did good. He committed his life to the pursuit of justice and equality. Were all the better for it. He led efforts to end employment discrimination as the executive director for the fair Employment Practices commission. The first African American u. S. Attorney for the Northern District of ohio, he served as assistant general counsel for president johnsons kerner commission. That commission issued a landmark report warning that racism and poverty were the root causes of violence in our nations cities during the 1960s. As general counsel for the aacp, judge jones directed efforts to fight discrimination faced by African American soldiers and worked to desegregate Public Schools in the north, stepping in personally to argue several cases. He was confirmed in 1979, nominated by president carter to the sixth Circuit Court of appeals, one of only 39 African Americans to ever serve on the federal circuit. As a judge, he felt it was his duty to be an instrument of change in a system that too often denied justice to people with color. Many of the cases that came before the court, he so often sided with those taking on powerful interests in fighting for their rights, something we see far too little of in this body and in this government. In south africa began to move beyond the dark days of apartheid and have a future of inclusion and equality, judge jones was called to help draft the countrys new constitution. Cincinnati, which he called home for some 45 years, the footprints of his good work can be seen across the city. Some of my some of my favorite time