Key Highlights
- Twenty-two Republican governors have signed an agreement sent to President Joe Biden asking him to withdraw his student loan forgiveness plan.
- In the letter, the governors wrote that they fundamentally oppose Biden’s plan to force American taxpayers to pay off the student loan debt of an elite few.
The Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also claimed that the plan of Biden would harm low-income families. Hourly workers will pay off the master’s and doctorate degrees of highly salaried doctors, lawyers, and professors.
In response, the White House pointed to Republican support of significant tax cuts for the wealthy under President Donald Trump and the GOP politicians. They benefited from having their federal Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven during the COVID-19 health crisis.
White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan wrote in an email that these same Republican governors didn’t seem to object when their Republican colleagues in Congress passed a $2 trillion tax giveaway for the rich or had hundreds of thousands of dollars of their small business loans forgiven.
He added that while Republican elected officials try to keep working middle-class Americans in mountains of debt, President Biden is committed to delivering relief to the borrowers who need it most.
Late last month, Biden fulfilled a key campaign promise by announcing that he would cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt for millions of federal borrowers and $20,000 to Pell Grant recipients.
While the letter argues that the president’s move will reward wealthy Americans, Biden has stressed that the income-based eligibility of his plan is aimed to help those who need it most, notably middle-class and lower-income families.
Borrowers with income less than $125,000, or households earning $250,000 or less, are eligible for $10,000 in forgiveness and up to $20,000 in debt relief for people who have been low-income Pell Grant recipients.
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