The Biden administration has once again used coronavirus emergency powers to extend a pause on student loan repayment, capitulating to his left flank and costing taxpayers billions of dollars.
The pause will be extended through August 31, lengthening the original May 1 date to start repayment, according to the Associated Press.
“This is a desperate attempt by the Biden Administration to shore up their radical progressive base at the expense of hard-working, tax-paying Americans,” Garrett Bess, vice president of Heritage Action, told Breitbart News. “It’s been two years — Biden can’t keep wielding an ’emergency’ halt in student loan payments for his own partisan political concerns.”
More than 43 million Americans who owe more than $1.6 trillion in loans will receive yet another extension, despite the fact that most holders of student loan debt come from wealthy families.
Indeed, the wealthiest 40 percent of borrowers hold 60 percent loan debt. The Biden plan also requires lower-income taxpayers to foot the bill for mostly graduate students — holding the majority of the debt — who are more than likely to out-earn them.
“President Biden’s decision displays an utter lack of foresight and an indifference to low- and middle-income taxpayers,” Isabelle Morales of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) told Breitbart News. “Working families should not be funding billions of dollars in giveaways to affluent, progressive elites.”
President Biden's perpetual student loan payment moratorium is an insult to every American who responsibly paid debts.
There's no free lunch: this reckless move puts taxpayers on the hook for billions.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) April 5, 2022
“This policy has already cost taxpayers $100 billion and will cost an additional $5 billion each month,” Morales continued. “This massive level of spending has contributed to surging inflation and is unfair to Americans that decided against attending college, opted for less expensive schooling, served in the military to receive free education, or have worked long hours to put themselves through school instead of going into debt.”
ATR sent an April 5 letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and members of Congress explaining that “Ironically, the over $100 billion spent on this policy has been given to those who suffered the least under pandemic shutdowns and economic turmoil. … This policy primarily benefits the wealthy.”
Further, the Brookings Institute described those who would benefit from student loan forgiveness as “higher income, better educated, and more likely to be white,” despite overtures to the contrary from leftist advocates of the policy.
“The top 20 percent of households currently hold $3 in student loan debt for every $1 of debt held by the bottom 20 percent of earners,” ATR’s letter explained. “The median income of households making active payments on their student loans was $76,400, with just 4 percent of these households being below the federal poverty line.”
People hold signs during a Cancel Student Debt rally outside the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC, on April 4, 2022. ( STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“Once again, the Biden Administration is picking winners and losers and hard-working Americans are going to have to pick up the tab,” Bess, said. “College graduates have done better in the COVID economy than their peers, seeing higher incomes and greater employment, yet Biden continues to give them special favors by continuing the moratorium on student loan payments.”
As the loan repayment moratorium can be extended by the administration in perpetuity, some congressional Republicans are seeking ways to stop the costly policy.
As Breitbart News exclusively reported, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) have introduced a bill that would force an end to Biden’s repayment pause extensions.
“The Biden Administration needs to put an end to their COVID madness once and for all,” Good told Breitbart News. “As the American people are going back to work, President Biden continues to cause suffering from run-away inflation caused by his endless spending and tone-deaf energy policies.”
Despite this, top Democrats have been calling for even more radical student loan policies.
Reacting to the news of Biden’s moratorium, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said it was a “very good thing,” but argued that “the president should go further and forgive $50,000 in student loans permanently.”
SCHUMER: "I just heard that the President is going to extend the student loan moratorium through August. […] The president should go further and forgive $50,000 in student loans permanently." pic.twitter.com/5qXONhaL5n
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 6, 2022
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.
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