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Arjun Singh
Daily Caller News Foundation
The Senate has advanced a measure to a final vote that would block President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation program, following a vote taken on Wednesday.
The measure, H.J. Res. 45, would block the Biden-Harris Student Debt Relief Plan, which was announced in 2022 and proposed to cancel $10,000 in student debt held by the federal government, which would have affected 43 million borrowers. The bill was passed by the Republican-led House on May 24, with the GOP having broadly criticized the plan for being fiscally irresponsible, and for redistributing taxpayer money from non-college graduates to college graduates.
The measure to advance the bill – allowing for debate ahead of a final vote on Thursday – passed the Democratic-led Senate by a vote of 51-46 . Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, along with independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are all up for re-election in 2024, voted in favor of advancing the measure, which is not subject to a Senate filibuster per the Congressional Review Act.
“As our Nation recovers from the pandemic, your cancellation plan will provide critical relief to millions of families and help avert a sharp rise in delinquencies and defaults,” wrote Democratic members of Congress in both chambers, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a joint letter to Biden in March, expressing support for the measure.
