Senate votes to repeal Biden’s scholar mortgage forgiveness plan. The White Home warns Biden in opposition to a veto

The Senate voted on June 1, 2023 to repeal President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Biden – pictured here with US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in October – is expected to veto the bill.

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A Republican-led attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan passed the Senate on Thursday. The White House said it would veto the measure.

Biden’s plan to forgive tens of millions of Americans up to $20,000 in student debt is already on hold while the Supreme Court debates its validity.

The measure, passed bipartisanly in the House of Representatives last week, would also remove the freeze on student loan payments. This suspension of bills has been in effect for more than three years. Borrowers may even have to pay back the interest they saved during the hiatus.

The bill passed by a majority of 52 to 46, with two Democrats and one independent senator voting with Republicans.

The measure is largely symbolic

In view of the expected veto, borrowers have little to worry about, according to experts.

“It’s going nowhere,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. “It’s basically a form of political pose to appeal to their base.”

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Senator John Thune, RS.D., acknowledged that passing the law was largely symbolic.

“Unfortunately, the President is guaranteed to veto the measure, and there aren’t enough Democrats in the House and Senate willing to override his veto,” Thune said in the plenary session on Thursday.

Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., said in a statement that he voted to repeal the president’s plan because the country could not afford to add another $400 billion to its national debt. That’s the expected cost of Biden’s program.

The policy “forces hard-working taxpayers who have already paid off their loans or who haven’t gone to college to bear the costs,” Manchin said.

Democrats call attempt ‘cruel’

Several Democratic MPs released statements condemning the law.

“Republicans’ ferocious attempt to stand in the way of President Biden’s plans to bring relief to tens of millions of Americans struggling under the crushing burden of student loan debt is damaging to our economy and completely at odds with the financial realities facing which working families face.” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

“If you kicked Republicans in the heart, you would break your toe,” Markey added.

New York Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the move “a slap in the face” to more than 40 million Americans.

“We should help Americans with their college debt, not make their problems worse,” Schumer said.