POTUS & Democrats Still Committed to Student Loan Debt Relief Even if SCOTUS Is Not
Sounds like fiscal responsibility from a government agency many argue is "inefficient".
One in a spate of disappointing decisions the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) handed down recently is its blocking of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan that would have wiped out $20,000 in federal student loan debt for millions.
Naturally this is being lauded on the right as a “win” against “the radical left’s effort to use the money of taxpayers who played by the rules and repaid their debts in order to cancel the debt of bankers and lawyers in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.”
(Actual quote from former VP and GOP presidential hopeful Mike Pence.)
But the avenue the president expected to follow was only one.
As the saying goes, “When one door closes, another opens,” and President Biden is simply going to open another door and pursue another route.
The plan the SCOTUS shot down involved an executive order authorizing the Department of Education canceling up to $20,000 in student debt under a provision in the HEROES Act.
The right-wing SCOTUS majority, though, argued the White House overstepped its authority.
“The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it,” Chief Justice John Roberts argued, insisting direct authorization originate in Congress.
The alternative measure Biden announced involves the Education Department tightening up years of “historical failures” and administrative errors to automatically forgive student loans — totaling $39 billion — for over 800,000 borrowers who have consistently paid 20 or 25 years of their income-driven repayment plans.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona explained:
For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness. By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve, just as we have done for public servants, students who were cheated by their colleges, and borrowers with permanent disabilities, including veterans.
It’s basically fixing a problem that, for too long, miscounted qualifying payments.
Sounds like fiscal responsibility from a government agency many argue is “inefficient”.
Pushing back against the inevitable right-wing talking points, President Biden said:
Some are even objecting to the actions we announced today, which follows through on relief borrowers were promised, but never given, even when they had been making payments for decades…the disregard for working and middle-class families is outrageous.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has approved $116.6 billion in student debt relief for more than 3.4 million Americans.
And it isn’t finished.
President Biden explained:
I’m never going to stop fighting for you. We’ll use every tool at our disposal to get you the student debt relief you need, and reach your dreams. It’s good for the economy. It’s good for the country.
When campaigning for the presidency, Joe Biden stated:
I propose to forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities for debt-holders earning up to $125,000, with appropriate phase-outs to avoid a cliff.
He is making good on that promise.
Yesterday, Congressional Democrats introduced the Student Loan Interest Elimination Act intending to immediately slash interest rates to zero for all 44 million student loan borrowers.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), explained:
Students and families are already saddling the rising costs of a college education. The federal government should not exacerbate the problem by making money off borrowers’ federal student loans. In fact, the average public university student who takes out a federal student loan today would pay $7,800 over the standard 10-year period in interest. That’s the difference between making mortgage or car payments, affording medical care, or saving for a stronger retirement.
Sounds like more fiscal responsibility from that “inefficient” government.
Up until the 1980s, when Reagan was elected president, tuition covered 20 percent of college; federal, state, and local subsidies covered the remaining 80 percent. Now it’s reversed, and with the Supreme Court approving a system of legalized political bribery, Wall Street banks make a killing on interest.
In 1998, legislation eliminated borrowers’ ability to discharge student debt if repayment presented an “undue hardship” and the loan had come due five years before filing for bankruptcy.
We are literally the only major industrialized nation that saddles students with mountains of debt.
Most countries send their students to college tuition free.
Denmark pays its students a $1,000 stipend to pursue higher education.
Why?
Because the government knows it is investing in its citizens’ intellectual capital.
An educated populace makes for a more productive, prosperous society, and people shouldn’t be punished for trying to be a part of it..
For every dollar we invest in a student’s higher education, we get back seven over that person’s lifetime in taxes.
That was part of the thinking behind the G.I. Bill.
Education, like healthcare, should be free.