Senate votes to overturn Biden's student loan relief program

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

The Senate voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation to block President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program after the measure cleared a key procedural hurdle in the chamber.

The 52-46 vote to pass the legislation comes a day after senators took a similarly close vote to proceed to the measure, which would repeal Biden’s debt relief program and end the administration’s pause on federal student loan payments. A few moderate senators — Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — voted with Republicans on the final passage vote as well as the motion to take up the measure. Just a simple majority of senators were needed to pass the legislation and send it to Biden's desk. But the White House warned in a Statement of Administration Policy last month that Biden would veto the resolution.

“This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief,” the statement said. The House passed the measure last week in a 218-203 vote, largely along party lines, with two Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington — joining Republicans in supporting the measure.

The resolution would repeal the administration’s program to cancel up to $10,000 in loans for borrowers whose income falls below certain levels and up to $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants. The resolution would also end a pandemic-era pause on loan payments and interest accrual.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-vote-block-bidens-student-debt-relief-program-rcna87223/

[RussBLib]

1. Biden will veto

They are wasting time needed to deal with the debt ceiling.

[JohnSJ]

2. Exactly

[madville]

13. They did this for the veto

It will give the Supreme Court cover when they rule against Biden on the issue.

[SledDriver]

3. Once again, "How does the Senate vote?"

[underpants]

4. Stealing that

[KS Toronado]

15. I hate THIEVES, think I'll just "borrow" it for a few years.

[LoisB]

5. Exactly.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. DUzy!

[riversedge]

7. "The biggest test for Biden's student loan relief plan, however, could still be ahead. The U.S. Supr

I fail to see how some can begrudge the cancellation of 10,000 when so much --hundreds of thousands of dollars were forgiven in the PPP handouts during the pandemic.



.................
..............The biggest test for Biden's student loan relief plan, however, could still be ahead. The U.S. Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, is expected to rule on two cases on Biden’s debt relief plan this month.

The debt ceiling legislation negotiated by Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which passed the House on Wednesday and heads to the Senate, would resume payments on federal student loans that were paused at the start of the pandemic. Payments would resume at the end of August if the debt bill is signed into law. But the debt legislation would not block Biden’s debt forgiveness plan, despite GOP-led attempts to include a provision to do so.

Republicans have argued that the Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness program burdens taxpayers and is unfair to those who paid off loans they borrowed or those who did not attend college. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the program would decrease the federal deficit by about $315 billion in the next decade.

The Biden administration, on the other hand, has argued in a statement that the cost of higher education has become a “lifelong burden” on low- and middle-income Americans, and therefore debt relief would provide borrowers with “breathing room” after the pandemic and accompanying economic crisis have passed

[GB_RN]

25. Yeah...

And those same arguments could be made about forgiving PPP loans, or any other federal loan. It’s not fair to other businesses who didn’t take one out, or couldn’t get one, and it’s not fair to taxpayers to have forgiven those.

What a hypocritical crock of shit.

Note: Not attacking you, nor am I arguing against the PPP loans scheme.

[xabriel]

8. Kyrsten Sinema joined Republicans in voting against debt cancellation

Marie-Antoinette does it again

[Stuart G]

9. Marie Antoinette was kind compared to Kyrsten Sinema (no text)

[Bayard]

10. I'm still trying to figure out Jon Tester....

I would not have thought he'd throw in with those other two.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. He's in MT

and obviously the state has been "in the news" lately (e.g., TikTok ban). He's up for reelection in 2024.

[Bayard]

12. I know he's in MT

I just didn't think he'd be siding with the likes of Manchin and Sinema.

[groundloop]

16. IMO it's just for looks and won't matter, they'll never override Biden's veto

[BumRushDaShow]

17. He's along with some of the other "moderate" / "conservative" Democrats

not as far to the right as Manchin or Sinema, but with people like Chris Coons, Tom Carper, Angus King, Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, etc.

[hadEnuf]

14. Trillions in tax cuts for the already super wealthy, billions and billions for corporate welfare.

Some relief from the crushing and overpriced school debt for the little people who are trying to get a half-way decent job when they graduate? SCREW YOU, FREELOADERS!


Why do we even pretend it's "of the people, for the people and by the people" anymore?

[Farmer-Rick]

22. So true

"Celebrities who received these loans include Jared Kushner, who has a net worth of $800 million. He received a $3,001,119 loan that was forgiven, The Daily Mail said. Khloe Kardashian, whose net worth is $60 million, got the $1,245,405 loan for her business Good American LLC forgiven, while Reese Witherspoon’s $975,472 will not have to be paid back. The actress is worth $400 million, according to the Daily Mail. Yeezy, Kanye West’s company, received $2.3 million....Carol Roth, author of The War on Small Business, said at the same time that West was taking out PP loans, Forbes reported he was “officially” a billionaire.

“It just goes to show you that there are winners and losers,” Roth said. “The wealthy and the well-connected are taken care of at the expense of those who are not.”

The Paycheck Protection Program, meant to help small businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, cost $953 billion."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsnationnow.com/entertainment-news/celebritiess-millions-ppp-loan-forgiveness/amp/

This is why America has such a large proportion of it's citizens in poverty and such an entrenched poverty as compared to other developed nations.

Abuse and prey upon the poor, provide huge subsidies for the filthy rich and horde opportunity for only the wealthy. That's what America has become.

[dchill]

18. DISGUSTED.

DISGUSTING! Especially Manchin and Sinema.

[hadEnuf]

26. Manchin and Sinema are basically Repugs in Dem clothes.

This has been obvious for years.

[dchill]

27. Yeah. I know. That's part of their disgusting quality.

[StoolPigeon]

19. 52 - 46 ???

Where's the filibuster rules when Dems don't want something to pass?

[BumRushDaShow]

21. This is not actual "legislation"

It is a "Resolution" that "expresses disapproval" for an Executive Branch (agency) action/Rule. t

It is associated with the "Congressional Review Act" that provides a path for Congress to cherry-pick a Rule for revocation. So the cloture (filibuster) Rule doesn't apply.

However these "disapproval" resolutions rarely have any effect because the President can and usually does veto them (although if the Rule is egregious enough, Congress can often muster the votes to override the veto).

It was something started under Gingrich to try to kneecap Clinton and his Executive Branch (regulation) Rules.

Good summary of that - https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-powerful-is-the-congressional-review-act/

[StoolPigeon]

23. Thanks for the clarification

OTOH, Is anything that Reps do considered actual legislation?

[BumRushDaShow]

24. LOL

They are known to walk around with folders and binders of blank sheets of paper and use blanks for props!



The one thing I have noticed is that this tool has been increasingly used now against the Biden's administration since the GOP took the House.

As a note, when the GOP had the trifecta from 2017 - 2018, they repealed what would eventually be 14 Obama regulations. But when Democrats snatched the House back and then took the WH and Senate, they were able to repeal 20 of 45's Rules, the last 3 done during Biden's first year. He's also been restoring some of the repealed Obama-era regs when he could.

Just found a good tracker here - https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-regulatory-changes-in-the-biden-era/

[GreenWave]

20. Epipens. Investigation.

Mansion never sweats that bullet, does he?