Republicans celebrate cancellation of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan: ‘Good riddance’

• The Supreme Court ruled Friday to strike down President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

• Republicans, who had said the plan was unfair and unconstitutional, immediately rejoiced.

• For borrowers, the move means relief could still be a long way off.

In a rush of consequential rulings, the Supreme Court decided Friday to strike down President Joe Biden’s plan to give student loan borrowers up to $20,000 in relief. Republican lawmakers — many of whom had openly criticized the plan — were happy to see it.

Senator Bill Cassidy, ranking Republican member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that the decision “confirmed what we knew all along: the Biden administration’s student loan plan is an overreach of executive power.”

“It’s an obvious but welcome decision,” Cassidy added. “President Biden’s student loan program does not erase debt, but unfairly shifts the burden from those who voluntarily took out loans to those who chose not to attend college or who have already fulfilled their commitment to repay their loans.”

The decision was made in two separate judgments. The high court ruled that plaintiffs in a case, US Department of Education v. Brown, had no standing. But the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed and all six GOP-led states had standing to file suit on behalf of student loan company MOHELA.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the Republican Education and Workforce Committee and an outspoken opponent of Biden’s plan, wished “good riddance” to the “illegal and economically disastrous taxpayer-funded bailout for the rich.” .

“I had hoped you would have greater respect for taxpayers and the Constitution, but I am glad the Court stepped in to hold you accountable,” Foxx said in a statement to Biden.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy praised that the relief was “ILLEGAL” and referenced former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s remarks that the president does not have the authority to cancel the debt. “I agree with her for once!” McCarthy wrote on Twitter.

Other Republicans have taken aim at the constitutionality of the plan and say the relief was unfair, arguments the Republican Party seized on after Biden first introduced the plan.

“The American people know that the Biden administration’s student loan socialism plan would be a bad deal for hard-working taxpayers,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement. “Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the administration’s position in Biden v. NebraskaThey may know it’s illegal.”

“Hardworking Americans won’t have to endure a tax increase to pay the bills of those who voluntarily took on — and have not yet paid off — debt,” said Rep. August Pfluger, Republican of Texas. . wrote on Twitter.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, wrote on Twitter that the loan forgiveness plan was “an unconstitutional power grab” that is “extremely unfair to millions of families who choose to make personal sacrifices to avoid debt.” And Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who serves as minority whip, said in a statement statement that Biden had proposed a “lumpy plan” for non-debt holders to subsidize the relief.

“Anyone frustrated by today’s decision should take their complaints to the White House, where they knew this executive order would likely be struck down by the courts, but did nothing to meaningfully address the exorbitant costs of “higher education,” Thune said.

Senator Eric Schmitt, Republican of Missouri, said in a statement that “the bailout was completely unfair to those who had saved and repaid their loans or to those who had not taken out loans.”

“The truck driver and the waitress shouldn’t have to subsidize the tenured professor’s theater studies,” Schmitt said.

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