- What happened: House Republicans passed a resolution to terminate President Biden’s policy to cancel student loan debt for millions of borrowers.
- Who supported it: The resolution was supported by every Republican on the House Education and the Workforce Committee and introduced by Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.
- What the program entails: Biden’s program would cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for people making less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for students who received Pell Grants.
- Cost of the program: The program was expected to cost the government more than $400 billion in lost debt repayment.
- Democratic response: During committee debate, Democrats warned that voting down Biden’s student loan forgiveness program would strip away relief that millions of people are anticipating. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., stated that the resolution “seeks to deny all of these borrowers the relief they were promised.”
- Republican response: Republicans dismissed the program as a radical attempt to redistribute wealth. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., added that graduate students hold most student loan debt, and that “President Biden is forcing the very people Democrats claim to care about…to pay someone else’s tuition bill.”
- How the resolution was written: Good’s resolution was written under the Congressional Review Act, which lets Congress reject an executive branch policy as long as the House and Senate pass a resolution disapproving of that policy.
- Likelihood of passing: While the resolution is expected to pass in the House, its passage in the Senate is unlikely, as Senate Democrat leaders support Biden’s plan.
- Historical precedent: However, Congress has had some success fighting Biden administration policies using the Congressional Review Act, even though Democrats control the Senate. In March, for example, the Senate voted 53-43 to overturn a Biden regulation expanding the government’s ability to regulate water sources.
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