Biden promotes yet more student loan relief
Critic says president just trying to buy votes with cancellation rhetoric
MADISON, WIS. >> President Joe Biden said Monday that college graduates would see “life-changing” relief from his new plan to ease debt burdens for more than 30 million borrowers, the latest attempt by the Democratic president to make good on a campaign promise that could buoy his standing with young voters.
Biden detailed the initiative, which has been in the works for months, during a trip to Wisconsin, one of a handful of battleground states that could decide the outcome of Biden’s likely rematch with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Biden said he wanted to “give everybody a fair shot” and the “freedom to chase their dreams” as he lamented the rising cost of higher education.
“Even when they work hard and pay their student loans, their debt increases and not diminishes,” he said. “Too many people feel the strain and stress, wondering if they can get married, have their first child, start a family, because even if they get by, they still have this crushing, crushing debt.”
Biden’s trip comes less than a week after primary voting in Wisconsin that highlighted political weaknesses for Biden as he prepares for the general election.
More than 48,000 Democratic voters chose “uninstructed” instead of Biden, more than double his narrow margin of victory in the state in 2020.
Trump also saw a significant number of defections during the state’s primary, with nearly 119,000 Republicans voting for a different candidate than their party’s presumptive nominee.
But Biden’s results, which echoed similar protest votes in states like Michigan and Minnesota, have rattled Democrats who are eager to solidify the coalition that catapulted him into the White House in the first place.
Some have also been impatient with Biden’s attempts to wipe away student loan debt. The U.S. Supreme Court last year foiled his first attempt to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, a decision that Biden called a “mistake.”
At the same time, the Department of Education has been working on a more expansive plan to replace Biden’s original effort. Although the new federal rule has not yet been issued, Monday’s announcement was an opportunity to energize young voters whose support Biden will need to defeat Trump in November.
Republicans said Biden’s plan shifts the financial burden of college tuition onto taxpayers who didn’t take out loans to attend school.
“This is an unfair ploy to buy votes before an election and does absolutely nothing to address the high cost of education that puts young people right back into debt,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs a committee on education and other issues.