Press Releases

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Republican Leader Bill Cassidy, M.D., (R-LA) led 32 House Republicans and 35 Republican Senators in calling on U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to rescind the Biden administration’s radical income-driven repayment proposal, which will severely exacerbate rising college costs and excessive borrowing.   

In the letter, the lawmakers write: “This proposed regulation…would turn a safety-net for low-income federal student loan borrowers into an unsustainable transfer of wealth from hardworking taxpayers to college-educated individuals. … This proposal ultimately turns the Direct Loan program, which provides millions of Americans with the opportunity to move up the economic ladder, into an untargeted grant. This is a drastic shift in policy which you do not have the legal authority to make.”
 
The lawmakers continue: “In your proposed rule, the Department claims authority to provide a 40 percent discount to student loan borrowers through the new income contingent repayment program compared to the current plan. …[T]he Constitution states that only Congress has the power of the purse. Clearly, Congress did not and would not authorize the Secretary to write off half of the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio with the stroke of a pen because we know our constituents are the ones ultimately responsible for paying for it, including those who never stepped foot on a college campus.”
 
The lawmakers conclude: “Borrowing for college will become the default for every household, including for those who can afford to pay and otherwise would have paid out-of-pocket. This proposal is reckless, fiscally irresponsible, and blatantly illegal and, as such, it should be rescinded.”
 
Bicameral cosigners of the letter include:
 
House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Joe Wilson, Tim Walberg, Jim Banks, Lloyd Smucker, Bob Good, Mary Miller, Aaron Bean, Glenn "GT" Thompson, Glenn Grothman, Rick W. Allen, James Comer, Burgess Owens, Lisa McClain, Michelle Steel, Eric Burlison, Nathaniel Moran, Brandon Williams, Mike Bost, Jake Ellzey, Alex X. Mooney, Dave Joyce, Michael Guest, Gregory F. Murphy, M.D., Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Erin Houchin, Nancy Mace, Russ Fulcher, Eric A. “Rick” Crawford, Claudia Tenney, Jake LaTurner, Barry Moore, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Whip John Thune, Senate Conference Chairman John Barrasso, Senate Conference Vice Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, Steve Daines, John Boozman, Katie Boyd Britt, Tom Cotton, Joni Ernst, Tommy Tuberville, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, Ted Budd, John Cornyn, Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Lindsey O. Graham, Bill Hagerty, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Michael S. Lee, Ted Cruz, Chuck Grassley, John Hoeven, James Lankford, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, M.D., Markwayne Mullin, Mitt Romney, Tim Scott, Thom Tillis, Todd Young, Jerry Moran, James E. Risch, Rick Scott, and Roger F. Wicker.
 
Read the full letter here.

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