- Trump's pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, has her confirmation hearing on Thursday.
- Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim outlined how they plan to approach the hearing.
- They're planning to question McMahon on her approach to the student-loan system and borrower protections.
Two Democratic lawmakers want President Donald Trump's education secretary nominee to come prepared with ideas to protect student-loan borrowers ahead of her appearance in Congress this week.
Linda McMahon, Trump's pick to lead the Department of Education, is scheduled to have her confirmation hearing on Thursday. In their first preview of how they plan to approach the hearing, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim sent a letter to McMahon on Tuesday — exclusively viewed by Business Insider — outlining specific issues they want McMahon to speak to.
Those include protections and programs for student-loan borrowers, reports on Trump's plan to eliminate the Education Department, and oversight of the student-loan industry.
"The next Secretary of Education must fight for the best interests of students and families, not greedy and predatory for-profit colleges and inept loan servicers, and must reject extreme policies and efforts to eliminate the Department," Warren and Kim wrote in their letter.
While McMahon has not yet commented on any plans for student-loan borrowers, Trump has previously been critical of his predecessor's debt relief efforts and broad student-loan forgiveness.
Here are three student-loan issues Warren and Kim are focusing on ahead of McMahon's confirmation hearing.
Targeted student-debt relief programs
Trump suggested eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program during his first term, which forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments.
Warren and Kim wrote that if PSLF were eliminated, over 3 million public service workers would "be denied the relief that they expect to receive and have planned their lives around."
PSLF cannot be eliminated without Congress, and not enough lawmakers have expressed support to make that happen.
They also highlighted actions under Betsy DeVos, Trump's education secretary during his first term, which included rescinding the gainful employment rule, intended to ensure students do not graduate their programs with unaffordable debt. DeVos also ran up a backlog of borrower defense claims, which provide relief to borrowers who proved they were defrauded by their schools.
The Democratic lawmakers requested more information from McMahon on how she plans to handle the programs that are intended to provide targeted relief to student-loan borrowers.
Student-loan industry oversight
Former President Joe Biden took action during his term to strengthen oversight of the student-loan industry. For example, following the return to repayment for millions of borrowers after the pandemic pause, Biden's Education Department withheld pay from all four major federal loan servicers for failing to fulfill their contractual obligations to borrowers.
Biden's Education Department also released an accountability framework for servicers, which included transferring borrowers to better-performing servicers if needed.
Warren and Kim want assurances from McMahon that that oversight will continue.
"Rigorous enforcement of each of the framework's components has been essential to protecting borrowers from servicer malfeasance," they wrote.
Eliminating the Department of Education
Trump told reporters last week that he hopes McMahon succeeds in putting herself out of a job, confirming his intent to eventually eliminate the Department of Education altogether.
It's an idea Trump has previously suggested, and it has support from Elon Musk, who is leading Trump's DOGE commission aimed at slashing government waste.
Warren and Kim warned in their letter that dismantling the department could have steep consequences.
"For working- and middle-class families, ED manages the federal student aid system, which helps millions of Americans cover the cost of college; this system is not perfect, but it is vastly preferable to a purely privatized system that would cost families more and offer no protections from predatory private student loan lenders," they said.
