🎭 The Two Faces Of Debt Relief

President Biden made good on one of his campaign promises last week by announcing that he would cancel some $10,000 worth of student loan debt per American — and up to $20,000 when including Pell grants. Nearly as soon as the announcement was made, however, Republican politicians and conservative figures began chastising the move. Among them, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green told Newsmax, "For our government just to say, 'OK, well your debt is completely forgiven'... it's completely unfair," reports CBS News. The White House quickly responded with a tweet stating "Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven."

• Beyond debt forgiveness, the Biden plan will further hold a freeze on student debt repayment (which began at the start of the pandemic) through January.

•  More than 40 million Americans are estimated to have a combined $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, adds CBS News.

• The Brookings Institution notes that four years after graduation, Black Americans hold an average of $53,000 in student loan debt, compared to White Americans holding $28,000.

Another Complaint

Former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling was another vocal critic of the debt relief announcement, tweeting "this isn’t loan forgiveness, it’s a generation of lazy unaccountable uneducated children being covered by hard-working debt paying Americans." Many on Twitter were quick to call out Schilling for this comment. Back in 2012, the six-time baseball all-star secured a $75 million loan guarantee from the state of Rhode Island for his video game company 38 Studios. The company failed, and the state taxpayers ate the costs, writes CBS Detroit.

The Verdict

It seems the Republican opposition to Biden's plan may not have a legal counter to his actions — or at least not a clear one, so bloviating on news shows and social media is their best attack. That being said, Biden's team calling out the hypocrisy is a boss move.

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