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Heard on the Hill: Enzi Delivers on His Threats

Sen. Mike Enzi does not mess around. When the Wyoming Republican doesn’t want to discuss a thing, he doesn’t. And neither will his friends.

Enzi — ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — organized a GOP boycott of the full committee hearing to discuss for-profit colleges Tuesday.

To be fair, he had warned HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) this would happen.

Enzi and the minority members had sent two letters to Harkin and the majority — one in April and another in May — to demand that hearings on for-profit colleges be broadened to include all institutions of higher education. If Harkin and the majority didn’t do it, Enzi promised, no Republicans would attend any hearing on the topic. On Tuesday, he delivered.

The Enzi boycott nearly collapsed, however, when Education Secretary Arne Duncan was added to the witness list. But Duncan’s back injury forced him to pull out, so the boycott went on as planned.

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