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More than a dozen Republican governors across the country are calling on Joe Biden to withdraw his disastrous student loan forgiveness plan.
In a letter directed to Biden, the governors expressed opposition to his administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, which is “estimated to cost the American taxpayer more than $2,000 each or $600 billion total, a price the people of our states cannot afford.”
The letter signed by 22 GOP governors states:
“Only 16-17 percent of Americans have federal student loan debt, and yet, your plan will require their debts be redistributed and paid by the vast majority of taxpayers. Shifting the burden of debt from the wealthy to working Americans has a regressive impact that harms lower income families. Borrowers with the most debt, such as $50,000 or more, almost exclusively have graduate degrees, meaning hourly workers will pay off the master’s and doctorate degrees of high salaried lawyers, doctors, and professors. What’s more, the top 20 percent of earning households hold $3 in student debt for every $1 held by the bottom quintile, generating a lopsided reality where the wealthy benefit at the expense of the working. Simply put, your plan rewards the rich and punishes the poor.”
The letter continues, warning that the plan would “encourage more student borrowing, incentivize higher tuition rates, and drive-up inflation even further, negatively impacting every American.”
Similarly, the governors maintained that Biden lacks “the authority to wield unilateral action to usher in a sweeping student loan cancellation plan,” a sentiment that was even echoed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last year.
“People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness,” Pelosi said, according to Forbes. “He does not. He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power.”
Pelosi’s remarks prompted nearly 100 Republican lawmakers to urge her to address the issue after Biden announced the student loan forgiveness plan in August, The Epoch Times noted.
A letter from Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., signed by 93 Republican lawmakers, questioned whether Pelosi would stand by her July 2021 statement and “stand up to this blatant overreach.”
“Although we may disagree on many things, your statement in July 2021 was correct,” the letter states. “Will you commit to supporting your July 2021 statement with definitive action to stand up to this blatant overreach President Biden is enacting? His move transcends the policies surrounding student loans. This is an illegal act by a President desperate for a political win.”
