[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 75 (Thursday, May 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2343-S2344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Student Loan Debt

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in Albany, NY, a grandmother of four 
reported recently that rising prices have forced her and her husband, a 
retired New York police officer, to cut back on eating out. ``I feel it 
in the pocketbook,'' she said.
  In Grand Rapids, MI, one young family reported that, before inflation 
took off, ``the paycheck went a little bit further.'' Now, on 
essentials like gas and groceries, ``there's no wiggle room.''
  In Springfield, MO, a food truck owner said that he and his wife are 
having to take business farther and farther from home despite gas 
prices.
  Stories like these aren't exceptions; they are the rule. Working 
Americans have been absolutely swamped by rising prices.
  Two-thirds of Americans told one recent survey that inflation has 
been difficult or even a hardship for their families. Fewer than one in 
five says the Biden administration's policies have done anything to 
improve economic conditions, and yet, as we speak, with the economy 
already scuffling, Washington Democrats are proposing more reckless 
spending and the biggest tax hike in American history. For example, 
President Biden is considering trying to buy up his sinking approval 
ratings by magically waving away $1.6 trillion in student loan 
obligations.
  So let's put a few things into perspective.
  More than a third of Americans did not pursue education beyond high 
school. Of the Americans who did receive additional schooling, barely 
one in four holds any student debt at all. In fact, an outright 
majority of the $1.6 trillion in Federal student debt is held by 
professionals with advanced degrees.

[[Page S2344]]

Working people who chose to avoid taking on debt should not have to 
bail out high-earning doctors, lawyers, and dentists or adults who 
borrowed six figures for an Ivy League master's.
  President Biden wants to effectively funnel money away from people 
who decided to learn a trade, away from people who chose community 
college, away from people who made tough sacrifices to actually pay off 
their loans in order to buy more enthusiasm from one of the Democrats' 
loudest and farthest left constituencies. Young liberal professionals 
with elite degrees and massive earning potential get a giant handout, 
and working people in rural America get the bill.
  As one scholar from a left-leaning think tank puts it:

       Almost a third of all student debt is owed by the 
     wealthiest 20 percent of households [while] only 8 percent by 
     the bottom 20 percent.

  He concludes:

       Student debt is concentrated among high-wealth households, 
     and loan forgiveness is regressive whether measured by 
     income, educational attainment, or wealth.

  Even among the small slice of Americans who do have some student 
debt, the majority owes less than $20,000. Ah, but the senior Senator 
from Massachusetts has proposed a cap that would cover debt up to 2\1/
2\ times that amount. She is laser focused on giving the future lawyers 
and future doctors of Cambridge, MA, this massive gift before this 
November.
  You literally have Democrat State attorneys general writing the 
administration, demanding the Federal government ``exercise its 
authority to cancel federal student loan debt for every [single] 
borrower.''
  Student loan socialism would be a giant slap in the face to every 
family who sacrificed to save for college; to every graduate who paid 
their debt; to every worker who made a different career choice so they 
could stay debt-free.
  Now, a little more than a year ago, President Biden was saying:

       I don't think I have the authority to do it by signing with 
     a pen.

  Speaker Pelosi affirmed that view, saying:

       People think the president . . . has the power for debt 
     forgiveness--he does not.

  Even the former general counsel at the Obama Education Department 
concluded:

       The Executive Branch likely does not have the unilateral 
     authority to engage in mass student debt cancelation.

  But, apparently, lackluster poll numbers have the President 
considering breaking the law and plowing ahead anyway.
  So think about this very concretely. Democrats want construction 
workers, police officers, and small business owners in Kentucky to 
effectively eat the student loans of surgeons, corporate lawyers, and 
people in New York City who chose to borrow $180,000 for a master's 
from the Columbia film school, with no plan whatsoever for paying it 
back.
  In addition to making inflation even worse across the board, this 
jubilee for the elites would do nothing to combat runaway costs in 
higher education. Mindless subsidies would just make the runaway costs 
even worse. I would like to see one single Democrat visit the working 
people in Kentucky and defend this proposal with a straight face.

  Democrats' policies already have working Americans facing the worst 
inflation in more than 40 years as well as the risk of a recession. But 
instead of trying to help middle-class families, Democrats are cooking 
up massive bailouts for Ivy League graduates. You can hardly dream up 
something more unfair.