Biden's student loan forgiveness plan criticized by Republicans and a few Democrats:
Last week, President Biden unveiled his plan to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 of student loan debt for debtors making under $125,000 a year. The White House says that by wiping billions of dollars of this debt, it will benefit up to 43 million Americans. This plan faces criticism from Republicans, economists, and even some among his own Democratic party. Senior administrative officials say that the resumption of loan repayments in January will offset any effects the loan forgiveness has on the economy, though this notion is opposed by those, such as Former top Obama economic official Jason Furman, who argue that, "Pouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless." The plan has also been criticized for benefiting high-earning college attendees rather than members of the working class who tend to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less than their counterparts. Most of all the plan has been criticized for failing to address the underlying problem of the high cost of attending college. The Center for a Responsible Budget, a non-profit organization, estimates that “the overall amount of outstanding federal student loan debt will return to $1.6 trillion (its current level) within five years." Matters are made worse as the president and Cardona are attempting to use the HEROES Act, a post 9/11 law which allows for debt cancellation when it's "in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency." This is problematic as the administration is attempting to use the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the national emergency while simultaneously claiming that the US has undergone a strong economic recovery. Some attorneys doubt that legal justification will hold up in court and even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that she believes the president lacks the authority to unilaterally cancel student debt.
Takeaways from the unsealed Mar-a-Lago search affidavit:
