[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 93 (Wednesday, May 31, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1813-S1814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Student Loans

  Mr. President, now on the student debt CRA. Today, Senate Republicans 
will begin pushing a terrible measure that would end the pause on 
student loan payments and overturn President Biden's historic loan 
cancellation program.
  Let me be clear. I strongly--strongly--oppose Republicans' cruel 
attempt to deny millions of student loan borrowers the critical relief 
they so desperately need. We should be in the business of helping 
Americans saddled with student loan debt, not making

[[Page S1814]]

their problem worse, as this measure would clearly do.
  Even a casual examination of the Republican measure exposes it for 
what it is--a cruel, punitive, and extreme broadside against millions 
of American borrowers.
  For one, the Republican measure would repeal the student loan payment 
pause--which has been a lifeline for millions of Americans--and even 
force borrowers to confront several months of retroactive payments from 
September to December of 2022. Let me say that again. This is so 
important. This measure not only repeals the payment pause, it forces 
many borrowers to make retroactive payments as well.
  The Republican measure also targets our public service employees--
first responders, nurses, educators, servicemembers--by jeopardizing 
their eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. 
Americans willingly chose career paths that pay less, and it is a slap 
in the face of these public servants to suddenly take away their 
eligibility for loan forgiveness.
  Now, my Republican colleagues talk a big game about helping working 
families, but this legislation shows how callous and uncaring they are 
by trying to block relief that would immediately improve the lives of 
millions of borrowers. Republicans have tried to paint President 
Biden's plan as a ``tuition bailout,'' and a ``giveaway to high 
earners.''
  That is just false. Republicans need to look at the facts: Under 
President Biden's plan, nearly 90 percent--90 percent--of relief 
dollars would go to out-of-school borrowers making less than $75,000 a 
year. Under President Biden's plan, no one in the top 5 percent of 
income would receive a penny in debt relief. So the Republican 
hypocrisy is enormous. They are willing to give huge tax breaks to 
billionaires and very wealthy people and big corporations, but now they 
say that 90 percent of former students making less than $75,000 dollars 
a year can't get this? Wow. Wow. What a canard.
  President Biden's plan, which this Republican CRA would overturn, 
lifts up Americans from all walks of life: students of color, children 
of immigrants, poor Americans, and working families struggling to 
either get to the middle class or stay there.
  So I will oppose this Republican CRA to overturn student debt relief 
and will continue working to make sure relief reaches every single 
borrower in need.