President Joe Biden appears increasingly open to executive action on federal student debt forgiveness as the midterm elections approach.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday dismissed President Joe Biden’s plan, which reportedly forfeits $10,000 in federal student loans to each borrower, as a political “stunt.”
“To divert attention from his faltering agenda, President Biden is looking to make working Americans pay thousands for high-income college degrees,” McCarthy told DailyMail.com EXCLUSIVELY.
This latest ploy would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions, force Americans who didn’t go to college to subsidize elite degrees, increase the costs of higher education for future generations, and exacerbate inflation even more.
He concluded, “The Biden administration isn’t interested in solving problems — they just want to mollify their progressive base while letting working Americans pay for it.”
It was reported Friday that Biden may take executive action to clear at least $10,000 in federal student debt per borrower, it was reported Friday.
It would deliver on a promise Biden made in the 2020 campaign, as he looks to help Democrats get voters to the polls in the November midterm elections.
A recent analysis conducted by him Brookings Institution He put the total cost of the $10,000 forgiveness for each of the 43 million student loan borrowers at about $373 billion.
But the sources said bloomberg Any assistance is likely to be targeted more at low- and middle-income people.
But administration officials left open the amount “possibly greater” than $10,000.
Familiar people said: “A lot of options are on the table.” hill.
He added that the White House “is doing a lot of listening right now.”
Biden rejected the idea of giving away $50,000 to each federal student loan borrower when asked about debt cancellation Thursday.
Protesters gather at the Education Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 2022 to call on President Biden to cancel all student loan debt
Progressives have called on Biden to take action on federal student debt for more than a year
DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House for comment.
If action were taken to cancel the entire $373 billion in student debt — out of the $1.6 trillion total held by American borrowers — that would be roughly the same amount the United States has spent helping poor families through the US Temporary Assistance for Families in Need Program. Two decades between 2000 and 2019.
It would also be more federal dollars than the government spent on 20 years of public school breakfast and lunch in low-income areas, according to the Brookings Institution.
In comments to DailyMail.com, McCarthy dismissed Biden’s announced plan as a political “stunt.”
The $373 billion is also more than double what the country has spent over two decades providing energy assistance to Americans who struggle to pay for heating in the winter.
On Thursday, the president ruled out the possibility of canceling up to $50,000 in federal student debt per borrower, as some congressional Democrats have pushed for.
However, he has publicly confirmed that at least some debt relief is being considered.
“I’m thinking of dealing with some debt reduction,” the president said during a news conference about dollar aid to Ukraine.
“I’m not considering a $50,000 debt reduction, but I’m in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not it does — there will be additional debt relief.”
“I’ll get an answer on that in the next couple of weeks,” he added.
Progressive groups and left-wing lawmakers have been pressing Biden to take executive action to ease the student debt burden afflicting more than 40 million Americans.
The president has already granted multiple extensions of the current pause on repaying federal student loans — initiated by former President Donald Trump over the COVID-19 pandemic — with the latest suspension expiring Aug. 31.
But progressives in Congress like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the pause is delaying the uncertainty felt by millions of borrowers.
Late last month, nearly 100 lawmakers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren signed a letter urging Biden to forgive up to $50,000 each for borrowers.
Forgiving even $10,000 per borrower in student debt would be roughly the same amount the federal government has spent on welfare over the past 20 years.
According to a Brookings Institution analysis, this would have amounted to nearly $1 trillion.
It’s more than what the US government has spent on Supplemental Social Security Income and housing assistance programs respectively over a 20-year period.
But not all Democrats agree on how to proceed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in July that “the president can’t do that.”
Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin told reporters earlier this week that action was needed on ballooning student loan debt, but that he was hesitant about “writing it off entirely.”
Meanwhile, Republicans have blasted Biden about the idea. GOP lawmakers argue that canceling student debt would disproportionately benefit higher earners and unfairly punish American taxpayers.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) claimed it would result in $13,000 in new debt for every family in America.
“Why should those who didn’t go to college or pay their loans responsibly be responsible for $13,000 in new debt?” Cotton wrote on Twitter.
Moderate Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has voted with Democrats to pass Biden’s agenda before, criticized the debt forgiveness as “desperate.”
Desperate Polls Call for Desperate Action: Democrats Consider Forgiving Trillions of Dollars in Student Loans. Other Suggestions for Bribery: Would You Forgive Car Loans? Forgive Credit Card Debt? Forgive Mortgages? Going wrong? Romney wondered.
And a group of Republican senators is introducing a bill that would block the president from mass student loan forgiveness.
They are led by Senate Minority Whip John Thune (RS). The bill also aims to reduce student loan deferrals after Biden recently extended the relief measure again through Aug. 31.
“Taxpayers and working families should not be held responsible for continuing to incur the costs associated with this payment suspension,” Thune said. Fox in the current situation.
Meanwhile, McCarthy on Wednesday night put forward a list of “winners” and “losers” after it was reported that the president was ready to forego a portion of the $1.6 trillion in student loans held by some 43 million Americans.
The House Republican leader has put forward a list of “winners” and “losers” in a scenario in which President Biden cancels some or all of $1.6 trillion worth of federal student loan debt.
“FACT → Debt” cannot be “tolerated”. It can only be moved. Someone always has to pay, McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
“As the Social Democrats Plan to Convert Student Loan Debt, Here’s Who Wins and Who Loses”:
The two winners in the scenario, which don’t have any sort of price tag yet, are “high-income people, like doctors and lawyers, who own 39% of America’s student loan debt” and “colleges and universities, who can raise rates because the government pays.”
McCarthy’s list of “losers” almost triples, including “taxpayers, who will be on the hook for paying off the loans” and “students and parents who have already paid off their loans” or are refinancing them.
He claimed this would burden “future students” with higher education costs as well as anyone with other forms of debt “as their payments pile up”.
“Every American” loses, too, said the GOP leader, “because this does nothing to solve our debt crisis and will send inflation skyrocketing.”
Inflation reached a record high in decades in March, rising 8.5% from a year earlier.
