On student-loan debt, President Joe Biden is ignoring Congress and acting outside the rule of law.
On student-loan debt, President Joe Biden is ignoring Congress and acting outside the rule of law.
The Supreme Court struck down Biden’s student-debt forgiveness initiative in June, but another Biden plan – with a reimagined design – is in the works. Millions of Americans with student loans will be able to enroll in a supposed repayment plan that offers extraordinarily lenient terms. Interest won’t accumulate as long as borrowers make regular payments, and in as little as ten years, any remaining debt will be canceled. Borrowers can begin submitting applications for the program as federal student loan payments are set to resume this October.
The administration calls it the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. The program, which applies to current and future federal student loan borrowers, will limit payments based on income and family size – and some borrowers will have monthly payments totaling $0.
Is a payment really a payment if the amount paid is $0?
The president’s revised student loan repayment system will let borrowers pay back far less than what they owe. And in an Orwellian twist, the so-called SAVE plan will be a huge cost to taxpayers. If spending other people’s money is how to save, many of us have been doing it wrong all our lives.
President Biden and his Department of Education continue to conjure an executive power to cancel student loans. They are bending the Higher Education Act to their political will without involving Congress. But the president’s authority is to execute laws as written. President Biden is not a co-legislator with the power to redraft legislation long after it’s been passed by Congress. Nonetheless, Biden is pushing a forgiveness plan – really, a taxpayer-bailout plan – more expansive than anything Congress has constructed.
