Biden Spending Billions on Costly Student Loan Waivers, Pushing Bailouts for the Wealthy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after the Biden Administration waived student loan debts for 40,000 borrowers – at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $3 billion – while erasing three years off of student loan repayment obligations for another 3.6 million borrowers, adding billions more in cost to taxpayers:

“President Biden continues to pursue a permanent pandemic narrative at a tremendous cost to American taxpayers. Today, President Biden added billions more to the taxpayer’s tab by cancelling the student loan debts of thousands of borrowers and rewriting repayment contracts for millions more with the swipe of a pen. This comes soon after the President extended a blanket student loan payment moratorium that is costing taxpayers $4.3 billion every month, and further fueling the inflation fire raging across our country. Democrats have made it clear that their goal is total forgiveness of all federal student loans – a gross attack on hardworking Americans who would have to foot the bill for a $1.6 trillion bailout to the wealthiest twenty percent of American households – those with graduate degrees, six-figure incomes, and high lifetime earnings.”

The Cost of Democrats’ Permanent Pandemic Student Loan Narrative:

• $4.3 billion per month cost to U.S. Taxpayers from loan moratorium
• $82 billion total cost to taxpayers from loan moratorium since Biden took office
• $3 billion in debt for 40,000 borrowers cancelled today by Biden Administration
• $17 billion in debt for 725,000 borrowers previously cancelled by Biden Administration
• Nearly 1/3 of student loan debt is held by the top 20% of earners
• 56% of student debt is held by households with graduate degrees
• 59% percent of households making $120,000 per year or more have student loan debt
• 2% = the unemployment rate among college graduates with a bachelor’s degree
• $1.6 trillion = total cost of full student loan forgiveness