President Joe Biden announced his new student loan forgiveness plan on Wednesday, delivering on a major campaign promise.
The Biden executive order will forgive $20,000 of student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients, and $10,000 for other borrowers. The decree will once again extends the student loan pause, which will last through the end of the year.
In keeping with my campaign promise, my Administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle class families breathing room as they prepare to resume federal student loan payments in January 2023.
I'll have more details this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/kuZNqoMe4I
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 24, 2022
Many Capitol Hill Republicans have criticized the executive order, including those from Alabama’s congressional delegation.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) recently joined Birmingham’s WVTM 13 News to explain why they opposed any form of student loan debt forgiveness from the White House.
(Courtesy of WVTM 13 News)
Tuberville argued that the president’s plan was not fair to those that have already paid off their student loan debt.
“I’m totally against it because I had to pay mine back,” Tuberville argued. “Everybody that I’ve known that took a loan had to pay theirs back. That’s part of the process. You have a responsibility and I think that’s one thing that you learn being a college student, is if you sign a note and you owe somebody money, you shouldn’t be asking somebody for forgiveness. There’s a lot of people that have worked second and third jobs to pay back those loans.”
According to Palmer, Biden’s executive order would further exacerbate the national inflation crisis.
“It’s going to be inflationary in a number of level, but particularly in terms of college tuition and that hurts everybody,” noted Palmer. “When the federal government got involved with student loans tuition skyrocketed, and that impacts everybody whether you’ve got a loan or don’t have a loan, and I just don’t think that’s the way we’ve got to go.”
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) also believes the Biden plan sends the wrong message to those who already satisfied their student loan debts.
I joined the military, used the GI bill & started at junior college. My wife waited tables. We sweated, sacrificed & saved to pay for our college educations & borrow to start & grow our small business.
What lesson is Biden sending wiping clean debts students willingly took on?
— Rep. Barry Moore (@RepBarryMoore) August 24, 2022
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) joined in on the criticism as well, saying, “Biden’s student debt scheme will only force Americans, who have already paid off their debts or who did not take on student debt, to foot the bill for his socialism.”
Our nation is already struggling with record-high inflation and a recession. Biden’s student debt scheme will only force Americans, who have already paid off their debts or who did not take on student debt, to foot the bill for his socialism.
— Mike Rogers (@RepMikeRogersAL) August 24, 2022
U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) asserted that the 46th president’s executive order was planned as a means of appeasing “the radical left.”
“In the unending string of reckless policies put forth by the Biden Administration, the student loan forgiveness serves as the latest installment,” said Aderholt in a statement. “Biden is catering to the radical left to appease his base which, according to recent polls, does not approve of his performance in the White House.”
“The cost of this policy is only the newest burden that will be shifted onto taxpayers that have no stake in it,” added the congressman. “It’s simply unfair to those who have been to college and paid off their loans; an agreement they understood when choosing to pursue higher education. I fear this policy will lead to new students borrowing more and more money from the government with the expectation that the taxpayer will pick up the bill down the road.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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