DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Biden administration announced Thursday it would forgive $1.2 billion in student debt held by 35,000 public service workers.
President Joe Biden will have forgiven $168.5 billion across 4.76 million student loan borrowers following the most recent round of debt relief, according to the Department of Education. The billions in debt relief comes as the president lags in the polls behind former President Donald Trump and as he faces calls from within his party to drop out of the presidential election due to perceived electoral weakness.
Some Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s debt forgiveness programs as a ploy to provide financial incentives to vote for them.
“It’s clear there is vote buying going on at a scale we’ve never seen before,” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, said during a CNN interview in May. “Citizens understand those are like free election payoffs. Those are like ‘Hey, folks, please vote for us because we’re relieving your debt.’ At what point does it cross over from programs like student debt [forgiveness] to just vote buying?”
The White House, however, contends that student debt relief is a useful mechanism to “ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” according to a Thursday press release.
Debt forgiven under Thursday’s order will apply to beneficiaries who qualify under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a nearly two-decade-old initiative that was expanded under the Biden administration to make it easier for government employees to qualify for relief, according to The Washington Free Beacon. Nonprofit employees, teachers, nurses, law enforcement officials, and first responders are among those covered by the PSLF, Axios reported.
Prior to the Biden administration, only about 7,000 people had received relief through the PSLF since 2007, according to Axios. That total has surged to 946,000 under Biden.
Though the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s flagship student loan relief program in June 2023, the president has still managed to cancel billions of dollars in debt by diverting overhauling existing programs like the PSLF, CNN reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Robert Schmad is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Reprinted with Permission from The Daily Signal – By Robert Schmad
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
what part of “you don’t have the authority to do this.” does Biden not understand?
Half a century in government shows Biden has no idea of a budget or true wealth creation.
Attaboy, Joe!! Keep buying votes with the money we earned, so YOU and your corrupt, “Democrat” party can hang on to the top job and associated honors that you HAVEN’T earned !!!
Hooray !!!
He cannot forgive debt, merely shift it to taxpayers in a different program. Should be illegal and they talk about no one being above the law.
biden and the democrats illegally paying off student loans for loser college students to try and buy votes.
there really is no limit to the corruption and criminal actions of the democrat party.
One MORE reason to NOT vote for Biden. It is OUR TAX MONEY he is using to ‘forgive’ these student loans. They may vote for him because of it but there are many more of us that are paying thru the nose to vote against the dementia ridden POS
Just like obummer, Joebama ignores the SCOTUS ruling and just keeps issuing unconstitutional EOs at taxpayer expense. Just think how liberals would become unhinged if Trump were President and issued EOs against judicial rulings.
And we’re supposed to believe this azzhat will obey election laws… or the SAFE Act if it passed? But I say GOOD, KEEP TRYING because eventually Rust Belt blue collar workers will see who Democrats care about… besides themselves… rich white Ivy League liberals!
Biden wipes his bleep with the Constitution.