Legislative Activity

Student Debit Cards

Last Thursday, September 26, Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Sherrod Brown (OH), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Dick Durbin (IL), as well as Reps. George Miller (CA), Louise Slaughter (NY), Maxine Waters (CA) and Peter Welch (VT), sent letters to bank CEOs asking for information related to their agreements with institutions of higher education to market debit card and checking account products. Specifically, the letters seek to better understand the arrangements and practices associated with campus financial products and ensure that Title IV student aid funds are not being diverted to pay fees to banks or for gifts to campus employees. Today, Monday, September 30, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hosting a discussion on the subject as a follow-up to a notice it published earlier in the year.

This Week’s Hearings:

  • Tuesday, October 1: As part of the Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee series on college affordability, the subcommittee will hold a hearing titled “Keeping College Within Reach: Simplifying Federal Student Aid.”
  • Wednesday, October 2: The Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a business meeting to mark up pending legislation, including the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act (H.R. 2094), and to consider nominations. President Barack Obama’s nominees for Assistant Secretary of Education for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (Michael Keith Yudin) and General Counsel at the Department of Education (James Cole, Jr.) will be considered.
  • Wednesday, October 2: The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing to examine the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act regarding scientific research and the economy.
  • Wednesday, October 2: The Economic Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on rebuilding American manufacturing.