In this C-SPAN video, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, questions VA Secretary-Nominee David Shulkin on his commitment to protecting student veterans from deceptive, predatory colleges.

At minute 1:29:11, Senator Blumenthal asked the following question:

“The American Legion included in its legislative priorities — and I thank them for doing so — the need to protect veterans from predatory schools. In 2016, the Yale Law School issued a report entitled, “VA’s Failure to Protect Veterans from Deceptive Recruiting Practices,” which showed that the VA is not complying with 38 U.S.C. 3696, which requires disapproval of GI Bill funding when the VA finds that colleges have engaged in deceptive and misleading college recruiting.  This topic is very close to my heart, having two sons who have served and knowing many, many student veterans.  If confirmed, will you commit to cracking down on colleges that are essentially lying to our veterans and cheating them and the taxpayers out of veterans’ hard-earned GI Bill support, including by using all resources and authorities available to you, as the head of the VA, as well as working with other federal agencies to crack down on these abuses.”

Secretary-Nominee Shulkin replied:

“Yes, Senator, the situation that you describe would not be tolerable to me, and absolutely I would commit to that.”

Senator Blumenthal answered:

“And I would pledge to you my total and complete support at whatever level, in whatever way that I can help.”

At minute 1:31:15, Senator Blumenthal asked:

“A 2015 report from the Veterans Education Success, found that 20% of 300 GI Bill-approved programs in licensed occupations left the graduates ineligible to work. Last Congress, we joined in a bipartisan, bicameral effort to unanimously pass the Miller-Blumenthal Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act. One component was the Career Ready Student Veterans Act, which requires the VA to disapprove GI Bill benefits for programs that lack the appropriate accreditation for graduates to earn state licenses and certifications. It sounds highly technical, but in the real world can have a tremendous impact on enabling our veterans to get to work, and I hope that you will commit to rapidly implementing this important law.”

Secretary-Nominee Shulkin replied:

“Yes. Thank you for your leadership on that.”

Watch the full hearing of the C-SPAN video here.