Over Half The Republicans In Congress Oppose Debt Relief
Today the Supreme Court will hear lawsuit brought by Republicans to stop debt relief for over 26,000,000 Americans who owe money on student loans. Bill Pascall noted that “Republicans in Congress are trying to kill debt relief for teachers, nurses and others out of spite” and he offered the names of the Republicans behind the lawsuit. Again— as in the case of raising the retirement age— it isn’t just the extremist maniacs like Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Gym Jordan (R-OH), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jim Banks (R-IN), Scott Perry (R-PA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Bob Good (R-VA), Kevin Hern (R-OK), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Mary Miller (R-IL), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Andy Ogles (R-TN) but also the Republicans who try to pass themselves off as “moderates” or just mainstream Republicans like Don Bacon (R-NE), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Mike Garcia (R-CA), Michelle Steel (R-CA), Michael Lawler (R-NY), Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA), Brandon Williams (R-NY)…
Student debt relief is very popular. Even 45% of Republicans back it— not to mention 81% of Democrats and 52% on independents. As you may know, Blue America has endorsed Dom Jones for the Orange County seat Katie Porter is giving up. I asked her how she plans to handle this problem when she gets to Congress. She told me that she recognizes "the significance of addressing the challenges faced by borrowers with federal student loans. While President Biden's proposal to eliminate up to $20,000 in student loan debt for most borrowers is a positive step forward, I believe we should explore additional policy options to complement this plan. Working alongside my colleagues in Congress, I intend to propose several policy alternatives to address this issue. For instance, one option is to establish a student loan forgiveness program targeting low-income borrowers who have received Pell Grants. This measure would help reduce the racial wealth gap, as Black student loan borrowers tend to leave school with significantly more debt than their white peers, which impedes their economic progress. Forgiving the loans for low-income borrowers would also empower them to pursue higher education and enhance their upward economic mobility. Another option is to collaborate with loan servicers to create an income-based repayment plan for all borrowers. This approach would enable borrowers to repay their loans based on their income, thus making it more manageable and alleviating the psychological barrier of returning to loan repayment after a long pause. Additionally, Congress should contemplate increasing funding for higher education institutions and expanding grants and scholarships for low-income students. This would reduce the need for student loans and ensure access to higher education for all individuals, regardless of their financial situation. All of these policy options can work either in isolation or in conjunction with President Biden's debt cancellation plan. It is essential to identify a solution that balances the needs of borrowers, institutions, and taxpayers while also promoting accessibility to higher education and closing the racial wealth gap."
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Stacy Cowley reported that today “the Supreme Court will hear arguments about President Biden’s plan to eliminate up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for most borrowers, at an estimated cost of $400 billion. Biden’s plan, announced in August, has been blocked by legal challenges, preventing the government from canceling any debt for the 26 million borrowers who have applied for relief. The White House insists its approach— which bypassed Congress and relies on a 2003 law, the HEROES Act, that allows the education secretary to grant relief in times of national emergency— is legally sound. The actions that Biden has directed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to take ‘fall comfortably within the plain text of the act,’ the administration argued in a legal filing to the court. Challengers, including six Republican-led states, call it an abuse of executive authority that seeks ‘breathtaking and transformative power’ by relying on ‘a tenuous and pretextual connection to a national emergency,’ according to their legal brief.”
The administration’s legal case for wiping out tens of millions of borrowers’ loans focuses on the pandemic’s lingering effects on the finances of many households. Without debt cancellation, the White House fears many borrowers will be walloped when payments resume, leading to what the Education Department projected could be a “historically large increase” in defaults and delinquencies.
“The borrowers most likely to struggle disproportionately come from lower-income households— the families least prepared to weather the public health and economic crises that gripped the country in 2020,” Mike Pierce, the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said Friday on a call that the White House had arranged for reporters.
…More than half the House’s Republicans joined in their own brief, which warned the Supreme Court that if it allowed Biden’s plan to proceed, “it is only a matter of when, not if,” an education secretary would again invoke such broad student-debt cancellation powers.
