On Wednesday (June 21), President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness program overcame a procedural challenge in the House, despite efforts by House Republicans to find the votes to override Biden’s veto of an earlier bill to kill the program.
In May, the House passed a resolution to stop what Republicans claim is an unlawful effort by Biden to pardon billions of dollars in student loans. This move would ultimately result in taxpayers being burdened with the debt. Although the Senate also approved the resolution, Biden vetoed it in June.
House Republicans attempted to override Biden’s veto on Wednesday but were unsuccessful because they did not reach the required two-thirds majority. The vote was 221-206, with most Democrats — except two — supporting Biden’s veto.
During a debate, Democratic Representative Bobby Scott from Virginia stated that Biden’s plan offers “loan relief” to 43 million eligible Americans, specifically low-income individuals who require this aid.
However, Republican Representative Virginia Foxx from North Carolina argued that this program unfairly transfers the debt burden to taxpayers, suggesting this is well-known by the American people.
Foxx described Biden’s “radical plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt” through an “executive fiat” as “utter hogwash,” arguing that the American people wouldn’t be “fooled by… deceptive, doctored-up talking points” about student loans that the “left has attempted to force-feed” voters in the last two years.
The failure in the House to terminate the loan program —introduced by Biden last year — has essentially killed Republicans in Congress’s efforts to overturn the plan, leaving the program’s date squarely in the hands of the Supreme Court, expected to issue a ruling in the next few days.
