FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2023
Contact: Emma Bittner
(972) 510-3395 | Emma.Bittner@younginvincibles.org
House of Representatives Use the Congressional Review Act in An Attempt to Roll Back Biden’s Student Debt Assistance
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House of Representatives used the Congressional Review Act to vote to block President Biden’s student debt cancellation, retroactively end the federal payment pause, and roll back progress toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
The House has advanced a joint resolution of disapproval that will now go to the Senate. This resolution would have to be passed in the Senate and signed by the President to block these student debt measures.
Abruptly terminating the payment pause and blocking President Biden’s debt relief plan would create upheaval across the student loan system. These CRA efforts will add thousands of dollars in payments and interest back to borrowers’ loan balances if enacted.
Even if the joint resolution ultimately fails, these efforts have already generated confusion for borrowers when they are already living in uncertainty as they wait for the Supreme Court to weigh in on President Biden’s cancellation plan.
In response, Satra D. Taylor, Director of Higher Education and Workforce Policy for Young Invincibles, said:
“This effort to block President Biden’s plan is an absurd partisan game that is using borrowers as political pawns. The payment pause has been a critical lifeline for tens of millions of borrowers and their families, finally giving them the much-needed breathing room to pay down other debts and improve credit. If enacted, these CRA efforts will add thousands of dollars in payments and interest back to borrowers’ loan balances during record inflation and economic uncertainty.
No one should inflict chaos and confusion on the student loan system for pure political theater. Forty-three million borrowers need relief, not surprise student debt bills. President Biden’s student debt cancellation plan moved the country and our economy forward – rolling back those efforts is going in the wrong direction.”