Senate votes to repeal Biden student loan plan with Manchin, Tester, and Sinema support
Jeremiah Poff
Video Embed
A bill to repeal President Joe Biden’s signature student loan forgiveness plan passed the Senate on Thursday with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) joining Republicans to pass the measure.
The bill, House Joint Resolution 45, invokes the Congressional Review Act to undo the president’s plan to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, or $20,000 if the borrower also received a Pell Grant.
EVERY HOUSE MEMBER WHO VOTED AGAINST PASSING THE DEBT CEILING BILL
The measure, which cleared the upper chamber of Congress in a 52-46 vote, passed the House of Representatives last week and is now headed to Biden’s desk. The president has vowed to veto it despite the measure garnering bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
“The president’s student loan schemes do not ‘forgive’ debt; they just shift the burden from those who chose to take out loans onto those who never went to college or already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the ranking member on the Senate education committee, said in a statement following the vote. “Our bipartisan resolution prevents average Americans, the 87% of whom currently have no student loans, from being forced to foot the bill of these unfair and irresponsible policies.”
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), who sponsored the resolution in the House, praised the Senate for passing the resolution and urged the president to reconsider his veto threat.
“I am pleased that my Republican colleagues in the Senate supported Sen. Cassidy and my efforts to overturn President Biden’s unlawful and unfair student loan transfer scheme,” Good said. “I am proud to have led the House fight against President Biden’s reckless, unilateral, and unconstitutional action that would penalize those who worked hard to pay off their loans or who never took them out in the first place. The President should reverse course, and do the right thing by signing this legislation as it heads to his desk.”
Republicans tried to include a repeal of the student loan cancellation in a debt ceiling increase, but a deal struck with the White House last week did not eliminate the plan to forgive student loans. The debt ceiling increase bill passed the House Wednesday night and is expected to clear the Senate in the coming days.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
But while the Congressional Review Act resolution is doomed with the veto pen, the fate of the president’s signature policy is far less certain. Legal challenges have plagued the proposal since it was first brought forth last year.
In February, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the legality of the plan. A decision in the case is expected before the end of June.