Haisten Willis of the Washington Examiner reports on the Biden administration’s penchant for pushing unconstitutional plans.
President Joe Biden wasted little time crafting new plans after the Supreme Court struck down his student loans plan.
Despite the court ruling his $430 billion debt transfer was illegal and Congress overturning it, the Biden administration rolled out a new action last week and promised to keep pushing through the 2024 elections.
“President Biden continues to fight for student loan borrowers on all fronts,” a White House official said in a background statement.
That plan includes what the Department of Education describes as an “adjustment” to the existing income-driven repayment program that results in $39 billion in canceled loans for 800,000 borrowers. While that is less than 10% of the dollar total of the original loan forgiveness scheme, the political result is largely the same — officials will tout their efforts to help borrowers while Republicans cry foul.
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) immediately decried the latest move as a cynical campaign ploy, calling it “a desperate Hail Mary attempt to save his bid for reelection.”
“It’s embarrassing, but more importantly, his willingness to ignore the Supreme Court and thumb his nose at the rule of law reveals a man who believes his power is absolute,” Foxx said. “That is not someone who deserves to lead our great Republic.”
The Biden administration has also indicated it is looking for other ways to enact broad student loan forgiveness, likely meaning the issue will remain a talking point for Democrats into 2024 and beyond.
Biden pledged during his successful 2020 presidential campaign to cancel student loan debt, though he spent his first 18 months in office saying Congress would need to move first.
Congress did eventually speak on the issue, overturning the student debt transfer in June. Biden vetoed that but was powerless to stop the Supreme Court from striking down the program later that month.
