President Joe Biden announced his plan to forgive student loans on Thursday. For anyone earning less than $125,000 a year, they can qualify for up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness. If they are Pell Grant recipients, they can qualify for up to $20,000.
Congressman Tom Cole and Congresswoman Stephanie Bice are certainly not on board with the president’s plan that is estimated to cost taxpayers $325 billion.
“President Joe Biden’s latest terrible idea to cancel a wide swath of federal student loan debts will ultimately harm hardworking Americans more than it will help anyone other than affluent voters in the days to come,” said Cole. “Forgiving federal college loans will only add more fuel to the raging inflationary fire that is already making it difficult for Americans to pay for basic items needed to live and take care of their families. Moreover, this move will add hundreds of billions of dollars more to the national debt, erasing any supposed deficit reduction and inflation relief recently touted and claimed by Democrats in their partisan reconciliation bill.”
Bice contends Biden’s plan shifts the debt burden away from those who are responsible for the loans.
“There is no way to ‘forgive’ debt. This handout by the Biden Administration, which carries a $300 billion dollar price tag, shifts the burden away from personal responsibility and onto the taxpayers at large, punishing them for the decisions of others. This shortsighted decision will exacerbate record-high inflation and raise the cost of tuition in the long run. Forgiveness without accountability is not a solution. This action is a slap in the face to Americans who chose not to take on student loans, those who decided to learn a trade instead of attending 4-year universities, and those who made sacrifices to pay them off,” said Bice.
Cole adds Biden’s plan feels like a move to attract more votes to Democrats.
“This is an obvious giveaway meant to influence and energize younger voters on the eve of an election, and it is completely unfair to those who have repaid their debts, paid for college on their own or decided not to go to college at all to avoid debt. Sadly, by taking this action, the Biden Administration will incentivize others to go into debt believing that their debts will also be forgiven at some future date. Forgiving college debt that individuals voluntarily chose to undertake is a monumentally bad policy that will benefit the few at the expense of the many. That is exactly the opposite of what the country should be doing.”
Cole is pushing an effort to ban members of Congress from taking advantage of federal programs like student loan forgiveness that might have been enacted during their tenure in office.
