Penn Hill Group Principal Vic Klatt was quoted in a June 2o Inside Higher Ed article, “Staffing Woes at the Education Department.” Klatt commented on the hiring of personnel at the U.S. Department of Education (ED), in the context of Claude Pressnell withdrawing his name from consideration for the job of assistant secretary for postsecondary education at ED:

“It’s depressing, and they really need to get somebody and get somebody soon,” said Vic Klatt, a principal at Penn Hill Group and a former education staff member for Republican lawmakers in the House. “Particularly with an upcoming negotiated rule-making process scheduled and the fact that they’re supposed to reauthorize the Higher Education Act this Congress, we need somebody and we need them quickly.”

He also discussed the potential nominations of Jim Manning and Kathleen Smith and said “if [ED is] not going to [nominate them], we need to have people filling those roles in permanent positions.”

Vic Klatt was also quoted in a June 20 Education Week article, “Ed. Dept. Budget Plan Hammered by Both Sides in Congress.” Klatt commented on the Trump Administration’s budget request:

“It made a lot of people uncomfortable, and sometimes with no good reason. And I think part of the reason is that they did less consulting on some of the specifics,” Klatt said. “It probably would have helped if they had talked to the Hill a little bit more.”