- 69 GOP lawmakers urged Biden to withdraw his student-loan forgiveness and repayment proposals.
- They said his proposal to reform income-driven repayment plans is "blatantly illegal."
It's no secret Republican lawmakers aren't a fan of President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness proposals. Now, they're calling on him to throw those proposals out.
On Monday, 69 Republican lawmakers — led by House education committee chair Virginia Foxx and Senate education committee ranking member Bill Cassidy — sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to "withdraw" his recent proposal to reform income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which are intended to give borrowers affordable monthly payments with the promise of loan forgiveness after at least 2o years.
The proposed reforms would cut undergraduate student-loan payments in half and shorten the timeline to receive forgiveness, among other things, and the lawmakers wrote in the letter that Biden's "go it alone attitude on student loan repayment and forgiveness flies in the face of the Constitution, which vests all legislative power in Congress."
"Simply put, the proposed rule will exacerbate the problems of rising college costs and excessive borrowing," they wrote.
"Policy experts agree that the vast majority of students will never fully repay their loans under this proposal," they continued. "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 This proposal is reckless, fiscally irresponsible, and blatantly illegal and, as such, it should be rescinded."
They're correct that some experts have noted how the proposals would change the mechanics of borrowing. An Urban Institute analysis of Biden's proposed changes to IDR estimated that the share of borrowers enrolled in IDR who earn a bachelor's degree that fully pay off their loans would fall from the current 59% to around 22%, saying it "will transform IDR from a safety net that supports borrowers with low incomes into a substantial subsidy for most undergraduate students who take on debt."
"Under current IDR plans, most borrowers can expect to repay some or all their debt," the analysis said. "If the Biden plan is implemented as proposed, fully repaying a student loan will be the exception rather than the rule."
The primary dispute lies in the legality of the reforms. Republican lawmakers have long argued that broad student-debt relief requires Congressional approval, and they wrote in the letter that "there is no clear congressional authorization for this proposed rule." They felt the same about Biden's broad plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers — the plan is currently paused and headed to the Supreme Court on February 28, and GOP lawmakers recently filed amicus briefs to the Court opposing the plan.
Additionally, the GOP House Budget Committee proposed rescinding Biden's broad debt relief and ending the student-loan payment pause last week alongside suggested budget cuts they would support in a debt limit deal.
Democratic lawmakers and the Biden administration have expressed the opposite — they've maintained confidence in the legality of Biden's debt relief and targeted reforms, and House education committee ranking member Bobby Scott even suggested expanding the IDR reforms in a recent letter to the Education Department. Still, Foxx told Insider in a statement that the proposal "is an abuse of executive authority that could unleash the most expensive federal regulation onto taxpayers in U.S. history."
"This administration knows full well that it cannot wave a magic wand and cancel student loans, but instead of working with Congress on meaningful reforms, it has turned its back to the Constitution and moved forward alone," she said. "This proposal is reckless, illegal, and will saddle hardworking Americans and future generations with unsustainable debt."