For most Americans, a U.S. lawmaker with onerous student loan debt pushing for debt forgiveness would be viewed as a conflict of interest.
For at least one U.S. representative, it’s apparently a non-issue — and the American Accountability Foundation is livid about it.
According to the Daily Wire, Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has been accused by the watchdog group over a number of issues.
In a scathing letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson, American Accountability Foundation President Thomas Jones outed Omar’s dubious finances — and “bully” reputation.
“We are writing today to share serious concerns about abuse of office and abuse of government loans by a member of the House of Representatives, Representative Ilhan Omar,” Jones said.
According to Jones, Omar is actually in collection proceedings on her federally guaranteed student loans.
Citing her financial disclosures, Jones called out the fact that Omar “currently has between $15,001 and $50,000 in outstanding loans.”
Jones noted, “As you know, these loans are guaranteed by the United States Government and Representative Omar’s default would shift the cost of her student loans onto the U.S. taxpayer.”
“The fact that someone making $174,000 as a Member of Congress cannot pay their student loans is unconscionable and embarrassing.”
Should Ilhan Omar’s wages be garnished?
Jones wasn’t done, however, as he had more issues with Omar than just the poor stewardship of her money.
“Adding insult to injury, there are credible claims that she is using her influence as a Member of Congress to bully the Department of Education into not collecting the past-due payments,” Jones wrote. “We have promulgated a Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence from Representative Omar to fully understand the scale of her abuse of office.”
To ensure that the Treasury Department will not be on the hook for Omar’s defaulted student loans, Jones demanded a drastic move from Mike Johnson.
“We are calling upon you to instruct the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives to impound Representative Omar’s Congressional salary and pay it out to Nelnet, the servicer of her federal student loan, until such time as her payments are current.”
The Daily Wire posted the whole letter online, which can be read here.
Social media naturally had a field day with this news, especially those who are fed up with Omar’s far-left rhetoric.
But the discourse over Omar’s finances did not originate with this inquiry.
At the very least, it’s been over two years of questioning Omar’s wealth and debt, as one can see from this 2023 post from financial data analysis firm Quiver Quantitative:
Rep. Ilhan Omar has filed her annual financial disclosure.
When she first filed in 2019, she didn’t disclose any assets.
Her recent filing shows assets worth up to $288K.
However, she now has up to $100K in credit card debt, along with up to $50K of existing student loan debt. pic.twitter.com/FcXFkSByJL
— Quiver Quantitative (@QuiverQuant) July 19, 2023
“Rep. Ilhan Omar has filed her annual financial disclosure,” the firm posted in July 2023. “When she first filed in 2019, she didn’t disclose any assets. Her recent filing shows assets worth up to $288K.”
The firm added, “However, she now has up to $100K in credit card debt, along with up to $50K of existing student loan debt.”
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