President Joe Biden’s student loan relief plan has now been met with a fresh method of obstruction from Republican senators.
On Friday, Republican senators Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn, and Joni Ernst announced their intention to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn Vice President Joe Biden’s proposal to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan for federal borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually.
Student Loan Cancellation Dispute
The Senate education committee questioned the Government Accountability Office whether Biden’s debt relief plan qualified as a rule that may be affected by the CRA. The GAO responded on Friday that the plan fulfills the definition of a rule under the CRA and that no exceptions apply.
Thus, the ED’s Waivers and Amendments must be submitted to Congress.
President Biden’s student loan plan does not ‘forget’ debt; it simply shifts the burden from people who voluntarily took out loans to those who never attended college or made sacrifices to pay off their loans, Cassidy said in a statement.
The CRA was introduced in 1996 to “strengthen congressional oversight of agency rulemaking,” as the GAO explained in its decision.
Since the Department of Education published its debt relief plan in the Federal Register and implements law and policy by “waiving and amending” student loan balances, the GAO considers it to be a regulation subject to congressional scrutiny.
The Education Department stated that the debt relief scheme is a “one-time, fact-bound application of existing and statutorily authorized waiver and modification authorities” and should not be subject to CRA.
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President Biden’s Plan
Since Biden presented the comprehensive debt relief plan in August, it has been met with opposition from both Republican lawmakers and conservative-backed groups that have launched lawsuits to halt the plan.
Two of these actions were successful in halting the implementation of the relief in November, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in these cases last month. In June, the court will rule on the validity of Biden’s relief. Until then, millions of borrowers must observe if they will resume repayment with any respite this year.
Apparently, Republican legislators are unwilling to wait for a Supreme Court ruling. In addition to the CRA resolution presented on Friday, several Republican lawmakers have also introduced bills to stop student loan relief and end the student loan payment suspension, which is presently due to expire 60 days after June 30 or 60 days after the lawsuits are settled, whichever comes first.
The House education committee will hold a hearing next week to examine Biden’s student loan policies. Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development Chair Burgess Owens stated that “Biden lacks the executive authority to implement his $1 trillion executive re-write of the federal student loan program and overlooks this single basic fact: Debt cannot be canceled, only transferred from those who borrowed to those who did not.”
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