Warren, Sanders Press Top Trump Student Loan Official on Plan to Protect Borrowers Given Past Censorship of Key Student Loan Report, Extensive Lobbying Record

Skip to primary navigation Skip to content × Close Mobile Nav About About Elizabeth Committee Assignments About Massachusetts Voting Record Contact Share Your Opinion Help with a Federal Agency Office Locations Send me Updates Share Your CFPB Story Save Our Schools Services Help with a Federal Agency Return to Repayment Guide Visiting DC/Tours Flag Request Internships Meeting Requests Academy Nominations Special Recognitions Grants Small Businesses Veterans, Servicemembers and Military Families FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act Requests FY 2027 Appropriations Requests Oversight Reports Letters Social Security War Room Save Our Schools Campaign Legislation Newsroom News Coverage Press Releases Op-Eds Videos × Close Site Search search Elizabeth Warren Senator Elizabeth Warren's Facebook Page (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's BlueSky (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Twitter (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Youtube (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Instagram (This link opens in new window or tab.) About About Elizabeth Committee Assignments About Massachusetts Voting Record Contact Share Your Opinion Help with a Federal Agency Office Locations Send me Updates Share Your CFPB Story Save Our Schools Services Help with a Federal Agency Return to Repayment Guide Visiting DC/Tours Flag Request Internships Meeting Requests Academy Nominations Special Recognitions Grants Small Businesses Veterans, Servicemembers and Military Families FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act Requests FY 2027 Appropriations Requests Oversight Reports Letters Social Security War Room Save Our Schools Campaign Legislation Newsroom News Coverage Press Releases Op-Eds Videos Español Close Search Open Search Popup Popup Search Close Search Popup MENU Senator Elizabeth Warren's Facebook Page (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's BlueSky (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Twitter (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Youtube (This link opens in new window or tab.) Senator Elizabeth Warren's Instagram (This link opens in new window or tab.) Home Newsroom Press Releases April 28, 2026 Warren, Sanders Press Top Trump Student Loan Official on Plan to Protect Borrowers Given Past Censorship of Key Student Loan Report, Extensive Lobbying Record Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (BHUA), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), pressed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new Student Loan Ombudsman, Geoffrey Gradler, on his plan to protect student loan borrowers, especially given his past censorship of a key student loan report at the CFPB and his background as a lobbyist for lenders. The senators also asked him to recuse himself from past clients’ matters that might come before his office at the CFPB. “We are concerned that you will follow the Trump administration’s consistent playbook on private student loans: implementing policy after policy that benefits private lenders and their servicers at the expense of borrowers,” wrote the senators . As the Student Loan Ombudsman, Gradler is responsible for investigating student loan borrowers’ complaints about misconduct by student loan lenders and servicers, compiling and analyzing data on these complaints, and making policy recommendations regarding private student loans. The Trump administration has attempted to shut down the CFPB entirely, deprioritized supervision and enforcement actions related to student loan issues, and stopped major enforcement actions against companies accused of using illegal student loan debt collection practices. In their Big Beautiful Bill, President Trump and Congressional Republicans also limited graduate student and parent borrowers’ access to federal student loans, forcing working families to turn to private loans, which have fewer consumer protections than federal loans. “You have given no assurances that you will break this pattern and use your new role to protect borrowers from predatory private lenders,” said the lawmakers . In October 2025, CFPB leadership — which included Gradler at the time — blocked the release of the legally-mandated annual Student Loan Ombudsman report, which evaluates the office’s effectiveness at protecting borrowers and provides policy recommendations on the student loan system. Months later, the CFPB released a shorter version of the report, co-authored by Gradler, cutting data on which private lenders and servicers were most often the subject of complaints. “Your role in this disturbing episode of censorship suggests that you may be reluctant to fulfill your statutory duties…raising concern about your