Former President Donald Trump characterized Biden’s student loan program as a “money grab” that forces Americans to bail out “college administrators who fleeced students.”
The 45th president said in a statement on Thursday:
Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats have just orchestrated another election enhancing money grab, this time to the tune of $300,000,000,000—and just like I predicted, it’s coming right out of the pocket of the working-class Americans who are struggling the most! Crippling inflation, unaffordable energy prices, and WAR—all things that should never have happened.
But if that wasn’t enough, now Americans are bailing out College Administrators who fleeced students, and those who opted for Degrees there was no way they could afford. America is a nation in decline, and the cliff into oblivion is within sight. Stop voting for Democrats! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
President Joe Biden announced a plan on Wednesday that would involve forgiving debts of up to $20,000 for students who went to college on Pell grants and $10,000 for students who did not receive Pell grants and only applies to individuals earning less than $125,000 or couples filing joint earnings of $250,000.
While the The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates Biden’s plan will cost at least $300 billion, another report from the nonpartisan Center for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates it could cost between $440 billion and $600 billion over the next ten years.
Jason Furman, an economic adviser for former President Barack Obama, notably criticized Biden’s decision as a “reckless” act that would only pour “gasoline” on economic inflation.
He also challenged the White House’s claim that Biden’s student debt forgiveness would provide relief to American households grappling with 40-year high inflation.
“The stimulus is relatively small (a multiplier of ~0.1). So the inflation impact is likely to be about 0.2-0.3pp,” he wrote. “That is $150-200 in higher costs for a typical household.”
Republicans across the board have rejected the proposal as unfair to Americans who chose not to go to college or who already paid off their loans. Even some Democrats are bucking the Biden administration, either because they are more moderate, or because they do not consider $10,000 – $20,000 to be enough per person.
