Republicans demand Biden administration explain ‘outrageous’ $37.7 million fine imposed on Christian university, accuse Education Department of ‘inappropriately targeting’ nation’s largest Christian school

House Republicans are demanding to know why the largest Christian school in the United States was fined $37.7 million by the Biden administration.

They say the massive fine may be based on “political animus” and a tool of government arms used by Biden’s federal agency.

Grand Canyon University (GCU), the nation’s largest Christian school, was reportedly fined for lying to 7,500 students about the cost of doctoral degrees in October 2023 to boost enrollment, according to agency.

But GCU has denied the charges and is currently appealing the decision.

Four House GOP members, led by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent a letter to the Department of Education on Monday demanding an explanation for the huge penalty.

The lawmakers — all from Arizona, where the university is based — want to see the “evidence” the department produced to levy such an “outrageous fine.”

According to the Department of Education, the university lied about the cost of its doctoral programs to increase enrollment

“The Department of Education appears to be using its unchecked power to inappropriately target GCU,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter obtained by DailyMail.com, adding that the university has been “targeted.”

“This outrageous fine and the ‘evidence’ supporting the allegations must be investigated,” the lawmakers said.

Arizona Republican Reps. Eli Crane, Debbie Lesko and Paul Gosar also signed the letter.

Lawmakers argued that the university has a target on its back after converting from a for-profit institution to a non-profit in 2018.

But GCU’s transition to non-profit status was supported by the Internal Revenue Service, the Higher Learning Commission, the state of Arizona, the Arizona Private Postsecondary Board and NCAA Athletics, the lawmakers point out.

The Department of Education’s actions are instead “a direct result of their well-documented disapproval of successful for-profit colleges and their inexplicable opposition to GCU’s 2018 conversion from for-profit to non-profit,” the lawmakers wrote.

They also cited several recent cases in which other universities fined by the department received much smaller fines for apparently much larger violations.

“For example, Michigan State University was fined $4.5 million for a systemic failure to address years of sexual abuse and harassment,” the letter states.

‘Temple University was fined just $700,000 for lying to US News & World Report for years about its online MBA program to maintain high rankings and attract more students.’

“Given the actual harm done by these two schools, there is no reasonable explanation for (the department’s) disproportionate punishment of GCU,” the letter continued.

Biggs told DailyMail.com in a statement: ‘The Department for Education’s hefty fine against GCU is yet another example of a gun-toting federal government.’

“(The Department of Education) is using its unchecked bureaucratic power to unfairly target a Christian university,” he continued.

The Phoenix-based university markets itself as a Christian institution and boasts nearly 26,000 college-age students and another 92,000 online students.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent a letter to ED Inspector General Sandra Bruce demanding evidence of GCU’s crimes that have resulted in a $37.7 million fine against the school

Brian Mueller, the university’s president, has called the fine “government overreach” and argued that the institution has been unfairly targeted.

“This is the weaponization of a department that has an opinion that is not shared by others,” Mueller told an arena full of students and faculty in November.

“There is no corroborating evidence to indicate that there is anything sinister going on here.”

GCU’s appeal of the fine is ongoing.