Texas GOP Senate candidate Ted Cruz, shown in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 6. In background are U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Texas state Rep. Stefani Carter, R-Dallas. (Kye R. Lee/Staff Photographer)
Texas GOP Senate nominee Ted Cruz on Wednesday dismissed Democratic foe Paul Sadler’s criticism that Cruz’s proposal to abolish the U.S. Department of Education would jeopardize federal student loan programs for college students.
“Of course not,” Cruz said after an Austin appearance.
“Student aid is critically important. … In my life, education opened doors for my parents and for me that never would’ve been opened,” he said.
Cruz said federal student aid funds, though, should be wrested from the federal department’s control, and sent to the states as block grants.
“We should take the funding, give it to the states and put the states in the position to make the decisions how to have the greatest impact in their communities,” said Cruz, a former state solicitor general who upset Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the July 31 GOP runoff for the seat held by retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Earlier Wednesday, Sadler said in a release that Cruz’s stance on abolition of the federal department would endanger the student loan programs it now administers.
“The Department of Education includes Federal Student Aid,” said Sadler, a former state legislator. “If we eliminate it, then we truly make college education unaffordable for a large segment of our population in every single country, every single city, every single town.”