[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 80 (Thursday, May 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BIDEN'S STUDENT LOAN BAILOUT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Education and the Workforce
Committee passed H.J. Res. 45, a Congressional Review Act resolution to
overturn Biden's student loan bailout.
I thank Representative Bob Good for sponsoring this crucial
resolution.
If passed through both Chambers, the joint resolution being debated
today would nullify President Biden's radical plan to cancel up to
$20,000 in student debt by executive fiat. For 2 years, President Biden
has attempted to push a free college agenda through radical regulations
including income-driven repayment, executive actions like blanket
cancellation, and his permanent pause on repayment.
Student loan forgiveness is nothing more than a transfer of wealth
from those who willingly took on debt to those who did not or had the
grit to pay off their loans.
Just 13 percent of Americans hold student loan debt, and over one-
half is held by graduate students. In other words, President Biden is
forcing the very people Democrats claim to care about--low-income
families, disadvantaged populations, and blue-collar workers who never
stepped foot on a college campus--to pay someone else's tuition bill.
How much would it cost the American taxpayer?
President Biden's student loan bailout alone will cost taxpayers an
estimated $315 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Coupled with his reckless income-driven repayment plan and other
expansive regulations, his student loan scams could cost as much as $1
trillion. In fact, at a cost exceeding $3,500 per taxpayer, the
President's income-driven repayment plan and mass cancellation
represent the most expensive executive actions in American history,
period.
These illegal actions also come at a time of rip-roaring inflation as
Democrats' reckless spending sprees push our economy to the precipice
of recession. The President's debt transfer plan alone could increase
inflation by as much as 27 basis points, making it even harder for
families to put food on the table and gas in their car. With our
national debt quickly approaching $32 trillion, a bailout for graduate
students and high-income households is the last thing we need on
our Nation's credit card.
Our economy is a debt-fueled balloon waiting to pop, and this plan
could be the proverbial needle. With all this spending, one would, at
the very least, expect the broken student loan program to be repaired.
Yet, even if the President is able to move forward with his debt
transfer plan, we will be right back to $1.6 trillion in outstanding
debt in less than 6 years.
Why?
Because colleges will increase their tuition and force students to
borrow even more because they know taxpayers will foot the bill.
The problems that plague postsecondary education cannot be solved by
one-time debt jubilees. Solutions require hard work.
Specifically, it means addressing the lack of accountability for the
hundreds of billions of dollars that flow to colleges and universities
that charge far too much for degrees with little or no financial value
and reforming our student loan program which Democrats are dead set on
running into the ground.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
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