The move intensifies a federal investigation into what went wrong with college financial aid this year, as many Republicans seek to reduce funds for the critical office that oversees it.
Congressional Republicans are widening their investigation into what caused the college financial aid crisis that harmed students nationwide.
The education committee of the US House of Representatives issued a subpoena Thursday requiring the Biden administration to hand over troves of documents by August 8, according to a copy order shared with USA TODAY.
The committee’s chair, Virginia Foxx, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina, blasted the US Department of Education for failing to fully cooperate with the federal investigation into changes to the Free Application for Federal Students Aid (FAFSA).
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Every year, millions of students rely on the FAFSA form to get financial aid for college. This spring, a series of application issues caused delays that prevented many candidates from estimating their college costs. Because of the bureaucratic backlog, many high school graduates were compelled to make one of the most crucial of their lives on a far tighter deadline than usual.
Earlier this year, an independent government watchdog agreed to investigate how the process went haywire. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has opened two independent inquiries.
The GAO confirmed that its staff attended a summer conference for college financial aid workers. The agency did not specify if the visit was part of those investigations. Richard Cordray, a top Education Department official who resigned after devastating FAFSA implementation, was a featured speaker at the conference.
Many of the congressional Republicans who have attacked the Biden administration’s FAFSA implementation also want to cut out hundreds of millions of dollars from the office’s budget in charge of the form.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to the subpoena, but agency officials have stated that they are delighted to be dedicated to working with federal oversight.
