On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reacted to Congressional Budget Office’s $400 billion cost projection for President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan by saying that it “seems to” wipe out whatever deficit reduction there was in the Inflation Reduction Act and that he “cannot answer when people call me” and wonder why they’re being “penalized” for paying their loans off.
Manchin said, “I’m very much concerned about the debt we have. We have about a $31 trillion debt that we have to be realistic about. In the IRA bill, we had $300 billion being paid down and this seems to wipe that out. But the bottom line is, I just thought there [were] other ways that we could do it. I cannot answer when people call me and say, you’re giving x amount of dollars away, $10,000 or $20,000 to this class, how about I paid mine off, why am I penalized? And how about the people in the future?”
Co-host Brianna Keilar then cut in to ask, “[D]o you think that it’s going to hurt Democrats during the midterms?”
Manchin answered, “I can’t — I guess it depends on where you are. I can tell you in West Virginia, when I speak to my friends and colleagues and my constituents back home, they call me, they would ask, Joe, I just can’t make these debt — these payments for my student loan, what can I do? And I’d say, well, there [are] things you can do. If you’re into the healthcare field, if you’re into education, and if you’re into government services, I can show you how you can eliminate your debt by working it off. So, that is a tremendous opportunity so you can walk away debt free. I think that’s a better alternative than just wiping it off and forgiving it. And it leaves people stranded.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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