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Democrats Ask Education Department to Return Garnished Refunds

Posted on Mar. 30, 2020

Top congressional Democrats are calling for the Department of Education to return money collected this year from student loan borrowers’ federal tax refunds in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the Trump administration has agreed to stop collection and return $1.8 billion garnished from borrowers since March 13, the legislators requested that money collected since January 27 also be included.

In a March 27 letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Va., Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Linda T. Sánchez, D-Calif., argued that since many low-income taxpayers file their tax returns at the beginning of the filing season, they would have had returns garnished before March 13.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are deeply concerned that the economic impact of these offsets could be even more devastating this year unless the money is returned immediately to these borrowers,” the letter said.

The lawmakers also asked the agency to clearly commit to stopping collections on all federal loans, including those commercially held in the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

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