[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 38 (Tuesday, February 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S511-S512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Student Loan Debt

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, across the street, this morning, oral 
arguments are occurring at the Supreme Court in two challenges to the 
President's reckless student loan giveaway.
  There are two main parts to the President's scheme. There is the 
outright forgiveness of $10,000 in Federal student debt and $20,000 for 
Pell grant recipients, which is set to cost American taxpayers 
somewhere in the neighborhood of half a trillion dollars. Then there is 
the President's radical revamp of the income-driven repayment system, 
which would bring the total cost of the President's plan to somewhere 
close to a trillion dollars.
  The President's new income-driven repayment plan has probably 
garnered less attention than his plans for student loan forgiveness, 
but his new income-driven repayment program is just as problematic 
because it sets up a system in which the majority of Federal borrowers 
will never--never--fully repay their loans.
  One scholar at the Brookings Institution, a left-of-center think 
tank, estimates that ``the vast majority'' of college students will be 
eligible for the program and that current and future borrowers enrolled 
in the program ``[o]n average . . . might only expect to repay 
approximately $0.50 for each dollar they borrow''--``repay 
approximately $0.50 for each dollar they borrow.''
  The Urban Institute, another left-of-center think tank, estimates 
that just 22 percent of those with bachelor's degrees enrolled in the 
President's new income-driven repayment program would repay their loans 
in full. By contrast, the institute notes that under today's IDR 
program, we would expect 59 percent of individuals with bachelor's 
degrees to repay their loans in full.
  The nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates the cost of the 
President's new income-driven repayment program at $333 billion to $361 
billion--the range--over 10 years. However, Penn Wharton notes, ``These 
estimates do not yet include the effects of students increasing their 
borrowing.''
  ``These estimates do not yet include the effects of students 
increasing their borrowing.''
  Needless to say, students are likely to increase their borrowing. It 
is common sense. In fact, the Brookings Institution notes that 
borrowing is likely to become the preferred means of paying

[[Page S512]]

for college under the President's plan. And, of course, as student 
borrowing increases, so does the cost to taxpayers because it is 
taxpayers who will be footing the bill for all that student loan money 
that is never paid back.
  Now, both President Biden's outright student loan forgiveness and his 
student loan forgiveness masquerading as income-driven repayment are 
going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money. There are the direct costs 
of the plan that will be paid for by the Federal Government--in other 
words, by taxpayers, including those who never went to college and 
those who have already paid off their student loans.
  There are the indirect costs, like the fact that the President's 
student loan giveaway is likely to prolong our current inflation 
crisis. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, where President 
Biden's own Treasury Secretary once served on the board, has estimated 
that the President's plan would ``meaningfully boost inflation''--
``meaningfully boost inflation.'' Now, you would think that the 
President might have learned his lesson after helping to set off the 
worst inflation crisis in 40 years with his massive American Rescue 
Plan spending spree but apparently not.
  It is important to remember that taxpayers are going to be footing 
the bill for student loan cancellation for Americans who, if they 
graduated from college, enjoy greater long-term earning potential than 
many of the Americans who will be helping to shoulder the burden for 
their debts. This isn't a government handout for the needy; this is a 
government handout that will disproportionally benefit Americans who 
are better off.
  Of course, the President's student loan giveaway will do nothing--
nothing--to address the root of the problem, and that is soaring 
college costs. In fact, it is likely to make things worse. Faced with 
the knowledge that many of their students will never have to fully pay 
off their loans, colleges will have zero incentive to cut costs, and 
students are likely to feel less pressure to choose a more affordable 
college option since there is a good chance they will only have to pay 
back part of their student loan debt and might even have it forgiven 
entirely.
  It is not hard to imagine a future Democrat President deciding that 
it is politically expedient to imitate President Biden and just cancel 
a huge portion of student loan debt outright, especially since college 
costs and college debt will continue to soar under the President's 
plan.
  Whether President Biden has the legal authority to implement the debt 
cancellation he proposed is really questionable. He used a law called 
the HEROES Act, drafted to give the President authority to provide 
student loan relief in times of war or national emergency and 
specifically to provide relief to the large number of soldiers deployed 
to the Middle East in the wake of September 11. It was not intended to 
provide for widespread student loan forgiveness in a time of peace and 
low unemployment.
  The President himself raised questions about his authority to forgive 
student loans in a 2021 townhall meeting. The former Democrat Speaker 
of the House stated plainly--plainly--that the President didn't have 
this authority. Between bullying from the far left and the prospect of 
gaining votes in the 2022 election, the President went ahead anyway. 
And now--now--taxpayers will be saddled with close to an additional 
trillion dollars in debt on top of the other reckless spending by the 
Biden administration and the Democrat Congress.
  It is not just Republicans who have raised serious concerns about the 
President's student loan plans. So has the Washington Post and at least 
one scholar at the left-of-center Brookings Institution and the 
nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, where, as I 
said earlier, the President's own Treasury Secretary once served. And 
the list goes on.
  The President's student loan giveaway is yet another disastrous 
economic plan coming from the Biden administration, and if it goes into 
effect, it will be the American taxpayers who once again will be paying 
the price.
  I yield the floor.