The Department of Education is working to offload its $1.7 trillion student-loan-debt portfolio to the Department of the Treasury, part of a President Donald Trump-approved downsizing plan that he and Secretary Linda McMahon hope will lead to the agency’s eventual dissolution.
This is the 10th interagency agreement between the Education Department and other federal agencies, though Thursday’s move is the boldest one thus far. The student loan portfolio makes up two-thirds of the department’s budget, and shifting this major responsibility is one of many steps that McMahon is undertaking to dismantle the agency entirely.
“Americans know that the Department of Education has failed to effectively manage and deliver these critical programs. By leveraging Treasury’s world-renowned expertise in finance and economic policy, we are confident that American students, borrowers, and taxpayers will finally have functioning programs after decades of mismanagement,” McMahon said in a statement.