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Trump criticized Biden‘s efforts to forgive student loans at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
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He said Biden’s debt relief is illegal and an attempt to gain “publicity for the election.”
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Biden is still moving forward with his broader debt relief effort, but it will likely face lawsuits.
Former President Donald Trump is making sure voters know what he thinks about student loan forgiveness.
At a campaign rally on Tuesday in Wisconsin, Trump delivered a speech lasting more than an hour on topics ranging from immigration to national security and the economy.
He also used that time to criticize President Joe Biden, particularly Biden’s efforts to pass student loan forgiveness for millions of Americans.
“He’s throwing money out the window,” Trump said in his remarks.
“This student program, which is not even legal, I mean, it’s not even legal, and the students aren’t buying it anyway,” he said. “His polls are down. I am at the forefront of young people with numbers that no one has ever seen before.’
A Harvard Youth Poll released in April showed that among people aged 18 to 29, Biden led Trump by 45%, down from 37%, but still a reduction in his 2020 youth support.
Trump also referenced the Supreme Court striking down Biden’s first attempt at student loan forgiveness last summer, saying that “he got reprimanded and then did it again. It will be further rebuked,” calling it “despicable” and an attempt to gain “pre-election publicity.”
On the same day as the Supreme Court’s decision last June, Biden’s Department of Education announced it would pursue a new path to debt relief using the Higher Education Act of 1965. The law requires the government to undergo a process known as negotiated regulation, which involves a series of negotiation sessions with stakeholders and a period of public comment before it can be implemented.
The department recently completed the public comment period and plans to begin implementing the relief – which is expected to benefit more than 30 million Americans – this fall. However, conservative groups have already opposed the plan, and it is highly likely that there will be further lawsuits that could delay or block aid.
The presidential election also creates uncertainty about the fate of student loan forgiveness. Should Biden win, his administration will continue its broad and targeted debt relief efforts, such as one-time bill adjustments for borrowers on income-driven repayment plans and government loan forgiveness.
Given Trump’s opposition to debt forgiveness, his potential second term would likely end the Biden administration’s work to cancel student debt.
This isn’t the first time Trump has criticized student debt relief. He previously called Biden’s first attempt at broad relief an “election-boosting cash grab.” After the Supreme Court ruling, his campaign posted a statement on its website saying that “these victories were only made possible by President Trump’s strong appointment of three distinguished and courageous jurists to the Supreme Court.”
Still, Biden’s Department of Education is moving forward with its relief efforts and continues to maintain that all its actions are consistent with the law and the Supreme Court’s decision. Along with the broader second relief effort, the Department of Education began forgiving the student debt of SAVE plan borrowers who had originally borrowed $12,000 or less and had made only ten years of qualifying payments.
While Republican Party attorneys general have filed two separate lawsuits to block this provision, a court has yet to make a final decision and the administration is still moving forward.
Read the original article on Business Insider
