Screenshot/U.S. Department of Education
Mark Brown in an October 2019 message from the Education Department
Mark Brown has headed the student loan program at the Department of Education under Betsy DeVos. He was responsible for the outrageous caper in which the department seized $2.2 billion in tax refunds owed to a million student debtors, in direct violation of the CARES Act. On his watch, DOE tolerated garnishment of wages of student borrowers, also expressly barred by the CARES Act.
A federal judge held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for allowing both practices, despite a court order to cease and desist. As the official in charge, Brown said the agency took “full responsibility” for the issue.
“One of the many things Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has charged me with is delivering exceptional customer service to our more than 42 million federal student-loan borrowers,” Brown said in a DOE video. “I’m here today to discuss an instance in which we did not meet our own standards.”
The Washington Post recently reported that under Brown and DeVos, the Education Department is disproportionately auditing financial aid applications of Black and Latino students, a surge that began after DeVos took office. Brown has functioned as DeVos’s DeVos.
Soon, President Biden will decide how much student debt relief to provide, and how to restructure the program to make it less punitive. He will need someone supportive of his reform agenda. That’s not Mark Brown.
Granted, there are several other Trump holdovers in the new administration’s early-replacement roster. Brown should be moved up on the list.
