Kline: Gainful-employment rules to have harmful impact

This just came in from the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, which is chaired by our own Republican Rep. John Kline.

(You may remember, he couldn't manage to block the rules after some hard lobbying and campaign contributions.)

In this e-mailed statement, he expresses "serious concerns" with the Department of Education's final gainful employment rules for for-profit colleges.

"The department may have offered some minor changes, but they have failed to adequately address the harmful impact the gainful employment regulation could have on students and the workforce," said Chairman Kline. "With this regulation, the administration has chosen to disregard the concerns of countless Americans and blatantly ignore the bipartisan will of the House of Representatives."

Chairwoman Foxx added, "This punitive regulation piles more burdensome red tape onto a select group of higher education institutions and unfairly targets career colleges that create innovative programs to serve the needs of their communities. As a result, millions of students who attend career colleges stand to lose out on valuable opportunities for career advancement and technical education. The increasingly fragile economic recovery simply cannot afford another job-destroying federal regulation."

"At a time when Americans are desperate for jobs and opportunities, it is deeply troubling the administration continues to push an initiative that will limit the ability of millions of individuals to gain the skills and training necessary to succeed in the workplace," concluded Chairman Kline. "All options are on the table as we continue the fight to protect student choice in higher education."

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