White House director of domestic policy, Susan Rice, dismissed critics of President Joe Biden’s new plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt as announced on Wednesday.
Rice was questioned about the fairness of the program during the daily press briefing at the White House.
One reporter asked her to respond to critics who had decided to forgo college, join the military, or pay off their student loans early.
“Yes, those who have paid their loans back deserve to be credited, that’s fantastic, that’s to their credit,” Rice replied. “But that doesn’t mean because some were able to do so, nobody should help those who weren’t.”
Rice and White House officials refused to offer even a rough estimate of how much the plan would cost, even though the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates Biden’s plan will cost at least $300 billion.
But Rice indicated just because some people paid off their loans did not mean that other Americans should not receive student loan forgiveness.
“By that logic, we would not help anybody in this country,” she said.
Biden’s forgiveness plan applies to people earning less than $125,000 or $250,000 for married people filing jointly.
Rice insisted the cutoff was fair, pointing to President Joe Biden’s goal of helping middle and lower-class Americans.
“This is not a giveaway to rich people,” she insisted, pointing out that a third of Americans who did not go to college also have debt.
During his Whtie House speech announcing the policy, Biden acknowledged that his plan would upset some people.
“I understand not everything I’m announcing today is not going to make everybody happy,” he said, but stressed he thought his plan was “responsible and fair.”
