President Biden resembles the character Michael Scott from the sitcom “The Office,” and not because of his cerebral abilities or his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. With the Supreme Court finding that Mr. Biden’s student loan bailout is illegal, he is essentially playing out an episode of “The Office” in which Michael Scott pledges to pay for his children’s college education—and then fails to do so.
Is He Pushing the Boundaries like Michael Scott?
Mr. Biden ran on “forgiving” student loan debt, a euphemism for a taxpayer-funded rescue, like many Democrats in 2020. This undoubtedly helped in the general election. Mr. Biden’s first phoney forgiveness was unnecessarily prolonging the student loan. During the COVID-19 epidemic, a repayment moratorium was imposed.
Borrowers have no payments due and no interest is accruing under that moratorium, which is still in effect. All accounts, including those that were previously in default, have been reinstated. While the payment delay is in effect, it operates as forgiveness and costs taxpayers more than $5 billion in interest alone each month.
Mr. Biden’s more permanent approach was a blatant violation of the 2003 HEROES Act. Which the government adjusted to provide a $40,000 bailout to households earning up to $250,000 per year. Fortunately, the Supreme Court saw that this was a blatant abuse of presidential power, and that choice is no longer a possibility.
Mr Biden, undeterred, is attempting even more methods to push this political football past the goal line.
The Higher Education Act of 1965, for example, supposedly gives the secretary of education the authority to forgive federal student loans. Taking this route, however, implies a lengthy procedure that includes public comments on the draught regulation, as well as the possibility of lawsuits.
As a result, Mr. Biden has also proposed a misleadingly called “on-ramp” programme.
Biden’s Student Loan Strategy
This year, Congress removed Mr. Biden’s legislative ability to prolong the repayment moratorium further. That is, interest starts collecting on September 1 and payments are due the following month.
This basically extends Mr. Biden’s reign by another year of phoney forgiveness. That is, while Mr. Biden remains in office, many debtors will not make a single student loan payment. And they will still not be in default. This is a significant political factor for a substantial voting group.
If Mr. Biden pledged loan “forgiveness” to millions of borrowers. Election Day will be reminiscent of the iconic moment from “The Office” where Michael Scott reveals that he can’t make good on his guarantee.
Everyone’s disappointment is evident at the scenario.
The political implication is that voters will remain home or, worse, vote for the other party.
