A top GOP senator cited a recent assertion by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to argue that the White House can "generally" remove student loan debt through executive action."
Several members on the other side of the aisle have urged the Biden administration to temporarily start withdrawing $10,000 to $50,000 in student debt — this is a questionable idea. Chuck Grassley in September during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on student loan debt and bankruptcy.
Grassley, ranking member of the committee and a 40 year veteran of the Senate, said that the Biden administration also lacks the authority to do this, even Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi herself said recently, and I want to quote: 'The President can't do it. So that's not even a discussion.
Joe Biden's comments, made during a weekly press conference last week, is in conflict with what other prominent Democrats have been pushing President Pelosi via executive order.
People think that the president of the United States has a power for debt forgiveness — he doesn't, Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. He can delay, he can postpone, but he does not have that power. That would have to be an act of Congress.
Senator Biden has repeatedly urged Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren to use executive authority to enact student loan forgiveness for the 45 million borrowers with federal funding.
'President Biden can androhim $10,000 in student debt — can forgive $50,000 of debt — the first day he becomes President, Schumer said in December 2020. 'People didn't need congress. We needed Congress. One of Biden's campaign promises included canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt for all borrowers.
The president is skeptical about the ability to enact broad-based withdrawal of up to $50,000 in student loan debt via executive action.
The basic argument for the president to be able to forgive student debt through executive action, as detailed by the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School in a letter to Sen. Warren, is that the Education Secretary has the power 'to adjust existing student loan debt under a distinct statutory authority — the authority to cancel existing loans found in 20 U.S. C. At the hearing Tuesday, Grassley outlined his general opposition to any cancellation of student debt.
We should consider moral hazard and cost to taxpayers, Grassley said, later adding: I don't think that we should ask those who did not attend college to pick up the tab for those who did. So I urge my colleagues to look at all the factors that are driving high levels of debt in higher education and closely examine the costs associated with any reform.
She can be reached at aarthiyahoofinance.com.