President Joe Biden announced $7.4 billion in student loan forgiveness for nearly 300,000 borrowers on Friday, which led to instant condemnation from one House Republican.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina referred to the president’s latest attempt to force student debt cancelation on taxpayers in an election year as “tone deaf.”
Biden announced forgiveness for 277,000 borrowers who are currently using several income-driven or public service programs.
The White House said the targeted debt forgiveness stood to “reinforce the President’s commitment to using every path available to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible through various actions.”
The White House added:
“This latest round of debt cancellation comes on the heels of President Biden announcing new plans that, if implemented, would cancel student debt for over 30 million Americans when combined with actions the Administration has taken over the last three years.”
Biden has canceled balances for millions of borrowers since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a sweeping plan last summer that he said would have eliminated or reduced balances for up to 43 million people.
Some of those borrowers would have seen as much as $20,000 in loans fall off their balances, depending on their income and whether they received federal PELL grants, which are awarded to undergraduates who “display exceptional financial need.”
The White House has responded to the court ruling by canceling debt for smaller groups of borrowers, such as teachers or people below certain income thresholds.
Should people who took loans be required to pay them back?
The continued debt forgiveness actions have led to accusations that Biden is attempting to buy votes in November by forcing people who did not take out loans to foot the bills of those who did.
According to The Hill, Foxx ripped Biden as being out of touch.
“The administration is tone deaf. There’s no other way to put it,” the chair of the House Education Committee said in a statement.
Foxx added:
“We know that instead of doing its job the administration focused time, energy, and resources on its illegal student loan scheme. And that has been frustrating, especially since it has jeopardized the academic journey of millions of students.
“But what is absolutely maddening is that the administration is STILL not doing its job and instead focusing on its student loan shenanigans.”
According to The Hill, the North Carolina Republican was referring to widespread issues with Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms.
As CBS News noted, the Department of Education recently unveiled a new way to fill out FAFSA forms online that was supposed to make it easier for students to apply for loans and grants.
Instead, the FAFSA website has experienced major issues since the update.
