House Republicans slam broad student-loan forgiveness as 'reckless' and 'short-sighted,' telling Biden it's 'not a solution' to higher education costs

• House Republicans urged Biden against broad student-loan relief before the State of the Union.
• They wrote that blanket forgiveness would cost taxpayers and hurt the economy.

House Republicans offered a piece of advice to President Joe Biden before his first State of the Union: don't cancel student debt broadly.

The White House released a fact sheet on Monday outlining points Biden planned to detail during his national address on Tuesday, and one of those points focused on higher education affordability. The president is planning to ask Congress to double the Pell Grant to $2,000, along with increasing aid to minority-serving institutions. While he said he will look into other affordability ideas, the Republicans on the House Committee of Education and Labor made clear broad student-loan forgiveness "is not a solution" to tackling the issue.

—House Ed & Labor Republicans (@EdLaborGOP) March 1, 2022

"Instead of advocating for sensible policy solutions, Democrats are pushing radical student loan forgiveness schemes. Blanket forgiveness would compound the nation's 40-year-high inflation rate, while disproportionately benefiting high-income borrowers — the very people who least need help and are reaping the benefits of the postsecondary education taxpayers provided them," the Republicans wrote in a blog post.

"President Biden and radical progressives have nothing to say to the thousands of students taking on education debt the day after forgiveness hits other than 'good luck,'" they added. "Reckless loan forgiveness policies are a short-sighted answer that would crush American taxpayers and leave our higher education system more broken than before."

Student-loan payments have been paused for nearly two years as part of pandemic relief, with Biden most recently extending the pause for a third time through May 1. Democratic lawmakers lauded that relief, and said it should pave the way for full student-debt cancellation. Republicans have criticized the payment pause, along with broad relief, citing its cost to taxpayers and the economy.

For example, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton recently called another student-loan payment pause extension "a terrible idea," saying it will put taxpayers "on the hook for trillions" — a concern GOP Education Leader Virginia Foxx expressed last month, citing the $150 billion cost to taxpayers that accompanied Biden's additional extension of the payment pause.

The argument that taxpayers, and the US economy, cannot afford to cancel student debt is one that some Democratic lawmakers and experts have dismissed. New York Rep. Mondaire Jones said last week that not only is broad student-loan relief overwhelmingly popular to voters — it has promising economic benefits.

"The sky didn't fall and our economy didn't implode" during the past student-loan payment pauses, Jones said. "Americans who found themselves with disposable income began putting it towards food, car payments, and housing, among other things, actually bolstering the economy in the process."

And in response to the GOP argument that broad relief will benefit the rich, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it a "ridiculous assertion" in December.

"Do we really think that a billionaire's child is taking student loans?" she said on the House floor. "Come on."

The Roosevelt Institute found that canceling $50,000 in student debt per borrower would be progressive, noting that 61% of students with income of $30,000 and under who began college in 2012 graduated with student debt, compared with 30% of students with incomes $200,000 and higher who left school with such debt.

Biden pledged during his campaign to approve $10,000 in student-loan forgiveness, but he has yet to follow through with that pledge, and borrowers are growing concerned as the May 1 payment restart date looms.