E&W Blog

In Case You Missed It, in the wake of the attempt on former President Trump’s life and widespread calls to “lower the temperature,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona decided, once again, to abuse taxpayer dollars in a partisan effort to smear Republicans for protecting the 90 percent of Americans who owe no student loans and ensuring they aren’t forced to foot the bill for the 10 percent who do. 
 
Using taxpayer-funded communications, Cardona claims in an email to all federal student loan borrowers that “Federal courts have issued rulings in lawsuits brought by Republican elected officials who are siding with special interests and trying to block Americans from accessing all the benefits of the most affordable student loan repayment plan in history.” 
 
Affordable? Biden’s “SAVE” plan is set to be the most expensive regulation in history and the total of Biden’s student loan transfer schemes could ultimately cost taxpayers over $1 trillion dollars, adding to the national debt. 
 
Republicans siding with special interests? Cardona should take a look in the mirror. The Biden-Cardona bailout would actually disproportionately benefit the wealthy, with roughly 70 percent of the benefits going to those in the top half of earners making more than $125,000, leaving lower-income Americans paying off the loans of doctors, lawyers, and borrowers making six figures. 
 
Benefits? The student loan bailout scheme is a short sighted fix to a long-term structural problem. Under Biden’s defunct cancellation plan, student loan debt would be slated to return to its current level of $1.6 trillion by fiscal year 2025, meaning taxpayers will have subsidized the debt for nothing. Additionally, the scheme sends the signal that loans will never have to be paid back. In turn, institutions will only continue to raise prices without consequence, forcing students to borrow more and more, further exacerbating the problem. 
 
However, Cardona does hit the nail on the head when acknowledging the main issue with the scheme’s implementation: multiple federal courts (which included Obama appointees), as well as the Supreme Court, have ruled that it is unconstitutional, blatantly illegal.
 
While the Department has focused its efforts, resources, and taxpayer dollars on bringing its illegal student loan bailout to fruition, it has completely abandoned America’s current students and its responsibility to implement existing law. Look no further than this year’s disastrous FAFSA rollout, which has left millions of students and families unable to access critical federal student aid and ultimately put many students’ dreams of attending college out of reach. 
 
Chairwoman Foxx didn’t mince her words in response to Cardona’s latest partisan weaponization of the Department of Education: “I have been disappointed in this administration’s messaging, but this level of partisanship has managed to surprise me. At a time when it’s crucial that we turn down the rhetoric against elected officials, I’m appalled that the Department of Education would expend time and resources to push out a campaign-style email to student loan borrowers bashing Republicans. Time would be better spent working in a bipartisan manner on urgent matters like rolling out the FAFSA and ensuring borrowers have non-partisan information that they need to repay their student loans.”
 
While Cardona and Biden are busy trying to buy votes and looking for brownie points from Democrat donors, Republicans are focused on meaningfully reforming the student loan system and ensuring more Americans have access to postsecondary education. Through legislation like the College Cost Reduction Act, Republicans are offering a legitimate, and more importantly, legal, solution to repair the country’s broken student loan system and ensure students are getting a return on their investment. Republicans will continue to fight for students and families and hold Cardona and Biden accountable for their unacceptable failures. 
 
Read more about Cardona’s disastrous and partisan tenure at the Department of Education here.