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Leading Congressional Republicans say the Biden administration has failed to comply with the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s investigation into the botched roll-out of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA).
The department hasn’t fulfilled many of the GAO’s information requests, according to the letter sent Monday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, and the delays in getting the documents could prevent the agency from issuing its findings this summer. The GAO has met with Education Department officials numerous times and offered accommodations to allow the agency to gather the requested items.
“Instead of owning up to its mistake, the Biden administration is hiding evidence relating to its botched FAFSA rollout from Congress and the American people,” wrote Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House education committee, and Louisiana senator Dr. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee.
Foxx and Cassidy demanded that the department turn over all requested records by June 7.
“The department’s ongoing failure to comply with GAO’s requests is unacceptable,” Foxx and Cassidy wrote. “GAO is a part of the Legislative Branch, and by preventing GAO from doing its job, the department is interfering with our efforts to address concerns with FAFSA and pursue transparency and accountability on behalf of the American people.”
An Education Department spokesperson said in an email that the agency “committed to continuing to respond to GAO’s extensive requests as quickly as possible while also remaining focused on the ongoing work for this critical program.” In a letter to GAO sent last week, Lisa Brown, general counsel for the Education Department, wrote that the department has responded “where it could to GAO’s extensive initial requests.”
“Overall, the department has been providing responsive information to nearly every category of request, with our tempo increasing as staff working around the clock on FAFSA have had more time to devote to other key priorities such as these GAO engagements without further jeopardizing the 2024–25 FAFSA,” Brown wrote. “As you know, the Department has made multiple productions to GAO in the last two weeks alone.”
