Chairman Arrington Statement on President Biden’s Latest Student Loan Scheme
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) released the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s most recent “cancellation” of loans, shifting $5.8 billion in loans from 78,000 borrowers to hard working Americans. This brings the cost of President Biden’s election driven loan scheme to a staggering $143.6 billion and counting, with the price being borne by the taxpayers:
"President Biden’s actions do not “cancel” any loans. He simply has shifted a total of $143.6 billion owed by those who freely incurred loans onto the backs of all taxpayers, many of whom do not even have a college degree. As too many families struggle to make ends meet, and as our nation faces an unprecedented debt crisis, one thing is clear: the American people cannot afford four more years of this administration’s spending addiction."
Background:
- In just three years, the Biden administration has attempted to spend an unprecedented $1 trillion on loan “forgiveness” in a clear circumvention of Congress.
- The Congressional Budget Office estimated that President Biden’s unconstitutional student loan bailout would have cost taxpayers more than $330 billion.
- The President’s six unwarranted extensions of the pandemic student loan repayment pause have increased the deficit by $165 billion.
- The administration’s latest form of backdoor student loan cancellations, the so-called “SAVE Plan” could cost taxpayers as much as $558 billion over the next decade.
- Student loan bailouts are regressive and do nothing to address the root causes of soaring college tuition costs.
- More than 60 percent of Americans do not have a college degree.
- Only 13 percent of taxpayers have student loan debt.
- Since 2000, college tuition and fees have increased by a whopping 186 percent, or twice the increase in inflation.
- President Biden’s FY25 budget proposal doubles down on higher education provisions, proposing an additional $290.3 billion to “reduce the cost of and expand access to postsecondary education, and training,” including $90 billion for “free community college.”
- Less than 1.7 percent of this funding would go toward increasing colleges' and universities' accountability regarding mounting college tuition costs, exacerbating this crisis even further.
