HEARING RECAP: Owens Exposes Ideological Bias in the Truman Scholarship Program
WASHINGTON — Education and the Workforce Committee Vice Chair Burgess Owens (UT-04) chaired a Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing to examine bias in the Truman Scholarship Program, a taxpayer funded scholarship established by Congress in 1975 for students who plan to pursue careers in public service.
Rep. Owens opened the hearing by outlining the Truman Scholarship’s purpose and the growing concerns over political imbalance in its selection process.
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Rep. Owens: “The Truman Scholarship was established by Congress in 1975 to honor President Truman’s legacy of public service. The program awards scholarships worth $30,000 to about 60 college juniors annually who ‘demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service.’… Recent studies, however, have found significant evidence that the Truman Foundation selects liberal students far more often than conservatives… Liberal students win the Truman at 14:1 ratios – and Democrats want to pretend there is no evidence of bias. This is simply unacceptable.”
Rep. Owens questioned Dr. Frederick Hess, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, about whether any federally funded scholarship program shows such extreme ideological imbalance.
Rep. Owens: “Are you aware of any federal education programs where conservatives win 12 times as much as liberals?”
Dr. Frederick Hess: “No, I’m not. And I think it’s important to understand here that this is not just about partisan balance. The point of the Truman is to recruit young Americans who are interested in public service so that they might serve the needs of the nation. This is about Americans who bring different values and different ideas to the table.”
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Rep. Owens questioned Ms. Jennifer Kabbany, Editor-in-Chief of The College Fix, about her decade-long review of the program.
Ms. Jennifer Kabbany: “This program is essentially a talent pipeline and taxpayer-funded scholarship program for the Democratic Party and the liberal activist network. It also shows that the system is inherently broken. There’s a systemic bias that starts at the campus level all the way up to the final decisions that needs to be reformed.”
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Owens then spoke with Mr. Adam Kissel, Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, regarding the Truman program’s definition of public service.
Mr. Adam Kissel: “Whenever there’s a voluntary transaction, both sides are better off. That’s Econ 101. When any public company or for-profit company is contributing to the public by selling goods and services that people want, they’re engaging in a kind of public service… If you are in a field where you’re helping the public, it shouldn’t matter whether the structure of your organization is for-profit or nonprofit.”
The full hearing is available to watch here.
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