ED’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Ideologically Targeting Public Service Workers Is a Blatant Attack on Civil Liberties
September 18, 2025 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 250 organizations including NAACP, AFT, AFL-CIO, Hispanic Federation, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NASW, NNU, National Center for LGBTQ Rights, National Immigration Law Center, NEA, SEIU, and UAW joined together to condemn the U.S. Department of Education (ED)’s proposal to deny debt relief to borrowers working for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and state and local governments that refuse to support the Trump Administration’s political agenda.
A copy of the letter submitted to the Federal Register can be found here: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PSLF-NPRM-Coalition-Comment-Letter-September-2025.pdf
Representing millions of students, borrowers, healthcare workers, government workers, educators, people of color, veterans, women, immigrants, people with disabilities, and consumers crushed under the weight of student loan debt, these organizations urged ED to halt its plans to make unlawful changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Submitted in response to ED’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the comment lays bare ways in which stripping employers of their status as a PSLF employer will have a chilling effect on their ability to recruit qualified public service workers and serve vulnerable communities.
From the letter:
“This is blatantly unconstitutional, illegal, and harmful to millions of borrowers across the country, including those working to support historically marginalized communities…This proposed rule is a clear, unlawful attempt to weaponize the PSLF program in an effort to intimidate and punish governments and 501(c)(3) organizations whose work does not fall in line with the Trump Administration’s agenda.”
Also from the letter:
“Ideologically targeting protected conduct is a clear violation of the First Amendment freedoms of speech and association, and is a blatant attack on civil liberties and individual rights,” the 254 organizations wrote. “Weaponizing the PSLF program to advance this administration’s ideological goals—many of which conflict with existing state and federal law—is anti-democratic and unlawful.”
Alongside this broad coalition, several targeted communities spoke out, identifying the ways this rule would hurt their members. Read some of the comments:
- Letter from 64 organizations that promote and protect civil and human rights for all people in the United States: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/LawyersComitteePSLF-Coalition-Sign-On-Comment-09-17-2025-FINAL.pdf
- Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PSLFNPRMFinal.pdf
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025.09.17-LDF-Comment-Letter-on-PSLF.pdf
- Coalition of LGBTQ+ Rights Organizations: https://GLADLaw.org/PSLF-Comment
- Letter from U.S. Senators Kaine, Gillibrand, Booker, and 21 others: https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-gillibrand-and-booker-lead-colleagues-in-opposing-changes-to-public-service-loan-forgiveness-program
- Letter from Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12), Ranking Member of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, along with 48 of their congressional colleagues: https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/letter-education-secretary-mcmahon-courtney-adams-blast-changes
- Cities and counties: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/City-and-County-PSLF-NPRM-Comment-Letter-ED-2025-OPE-0016.pdf
- 246 current law students and recent law school graduates from 23 different law schools, with 150 individual stories: https://consumerlaw.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/2025_pslf_reg_law_student_comment.pdf
- Environmental organizations: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Comments-of-SELC-NRDC-Earthjustice-and-ELPC-on-PSLF-NPRM.pdf
Read also Student Loan Law Initiative Co-Director and UC Berkeley Law Associate Dean and Professor Jonathan Glater’s comments on the unconstitutionality and illegality of the Administration’s proposal: https://consumerlaw.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pslf_negreg_comment-16sep25.pdf
Background
In March 2025, President Trump directed the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to initiate this rulemaking in an Executive Order to revoke eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) from borrowers employed at non-profit organizations engaging in work opposed by the Trump Administration. The EO came amidst broader efforts by the Trump Administration to enact the Project 2025 agenda, which calls for eliminating ED and gutting Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) options and PSLF.
On April 31, 2025, ED kicked off the Negotiated Rulemaking process with two days of public hearings. Borrowers and advocates provided public testimony on the importance of IDR and PSLF. In early June, dozens of organizations representing millions of students, borrowers, union members, veterans, and other stakeholders sent a letter to ED urging officials to expand the slate of negotiator seats on its proposed negotiated rulemaking committee. Instead, the panel included a single seat to represent all consumer advocates, legal aid, and civil rights organizations.
On June 30, 2025, ED began its one and only negotiated rulemaking session to implement President Trump’s Executive Order. Negotiators again requested a seat for civil rights organizations—a critical community that will be affected by the proposed rulemaking—but ED denied this request.
Negotiators then worked off of ED’s proposed regulatory language that would allow the Secretary of Education to declare that any organization is engaged in activities that have a “substantial illegal purpose.” This would allow the Secretary of Education to render an employer ineligible—thereby disqualifying its employees—if it engages in activities it deems illegal. It also allows the Secretary of Education to police the ways in which state, county, municipal, and tribal governments and non-profit organizations serve their communities’ needs.
After three days of negotiations, ED forced a vote on barely changed proposal language. The final proposal language remains an illegal and dangerous attempt to use student debt to stifle free speech.
In July, ED announced it plans to hold two new negotiated rulemaking sessions this year to implement provisions from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and other Trump Administration priorities.
Further Reading
SBPC release on ED’s proposed PSLF language: U.S. Department of Education’s Proposed PSLF Language Uplifts Thinly-Veiled Fascism
Group letter to ED urging representation on negotiated rulemaking panel: Groups Urge U.S. Department of Education to Ensure Robust Representation on Student Debt Rulemaking Panel
186 organization letter to ED in response to ED’s notice about Negotiated Rulemaking to implement a Trump Executive Order: Hundreds of Democracy, Labor, and Civil Rights Organizations Warn Trump Education Officials: Do Not “Weaponize PSLF”
SBPC advisory on Negotiated Rulemaking hearings: Borrowers and Advocates to Demand Protections for Millions at Neg Reg as ED Moves to Gut Affordable Student Loan Payments
AFT and SBPC statement on PSLF Executive Order: Advocates Blast Trump Plans to Sign Executive Order to Weaponize Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Stifle Free Speech Across America
Collection of borrower stories: Voices Behind the Student Debt Crisis
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About Protect Borrowers
Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.
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