Politico Morning Education says Betsy D won’t testify. Trump officials ignore Congress:

 

DEVOS AT RISK OF SUBPOENA: The committee is now reviewing options, “including a subpoena,” after DeVos declined to testify, a committee aide told POLITICO Thursday night. Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) had given DeVos until Thursday at 6 p.m. to respond to his request that she appear.

— House Democrats are scheduled to hold a hearing on Nov. 19 on the Education Department’s “refusal to provide debt relief” to students “who were defrauded” by the now defunct for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges, according to the hearing posting.

— Last month, a federal judge held DeVos in contempt of court and imposed a $100,000 fine for violating an order to stop collecting on the student loans owed by former Corinthian students. The department admitted to the court earlier this year that it had erroneously collected on the loans of some 16,000 borrowers.

— DeVos, in a letter to Scott released by the department Thursday night, suggested that “you and I have a conversation, either in person or over the phone, at your convenience to discuss borrower defense claims.” She said she had originally suggested an in-person briefing for Scott with Mark Brown, the head of Federal Student Aid.

— “These back-and-forth letters seem to do little to advance the public good, though clearly, are effective at generating headlines,” DeVos wrote.

— The department’s acting general counsel, Reed Rubinstein, in a separate letter to the chairman, said the department wasn’t “averse to the Secretary appearing before the committee at some point in the relatively near future.” However, he stipulated it would only be appropriate after the committee heard from Brown and after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a final decision on the merits of the case in the pending appeal.