A spokesperson for Kennedy Jr. told Newsweek that the « meaningful relief » he was referring to in his tweet was « some form of student debt forgiveness. »
Democratic 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has added student loan debt cancellation to his platform after the Supreme Court on Friday overturned attempts by the Biden administration to impose a similar program.
According to White House figures, more than 40 million Americans would have benefitted from the debt relief, with borrowers due to restart paying off their federal student loans in October, following an over three-year hiatus in response to the coronavirus pandemic. President Joe Biden’s program would have granted student borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year up to $10,000 in debt relief, with $20,000 available to Pell Grant recipients who come from low-income households.
Hours after the ruling, Kennedy Jr.—an heir to the Kennedy political dynasty—published a Twitter thread criticizing the Biden administration’s inability to defend its program following a 6-3 ruling by the Court’s conservative majority determining Biden acted beyond the scope of his office by cancelling federally-held student debt without the consent of Congress.
