Senate GOP shields prominent conservative college from endowment tax

One of the provisions inserted in this criminal tax bill is to exempt Hillsdale College from the endowment tax…

Why?

The school’s president, Larry Arnn, is influential in conservative intellectual circles and was floated last year as a potential pick to be President Donald Trump’s Education secretary. Arnn has served as a Heritage Foundation trustee since 2002. The school also has close ties to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Democrats blasted the move as a giveaway to a school with ties to powerful conservative donors.

“This is a very limited provision written for a very special person,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said on the Senate floor, noting the school’s connections to the DeVoses. Betsy DeVos’ brother, Erik Prince, is a Hillsdale graduate, according to the college website.