House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's stance on student loan debt forgiveness has undergone a 180-degree turn in little more than a year.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the U.S. government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for many debt-saddled college graduates, a move that could boost support for his fellow Democrats in the November congressional elections but also might fuel inflation.
RNC Research took to social media to point out that Pelosi, D-Calif., had flip-flopped on whether the president has the power to forgive debt.
"PELOSI, LAST JULY: Biden 'does not' have the power to bail out student loan debt. PELOSI, NOW: 'Clearly, it seems [Biden] has the authority to do this,'" the Republican National Committee's research account tweeted with videos from July 2021 and this month.
In July 2021, Pelosi said: "People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress."
However, this month Pelosi claimed that she previously "didn't know what authority the president had to do this. And now, clearly, it seems, he has the authority to do this $10,000."
Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., on Wednesday told Newsmax that he agreed with Pelosi's initial stance.
"She's 100% right," Grothman said on "National Report." "He's [Biden] just power-mad. What you are doing is you are spending, over $300 billion without Congress appropriating it. In other words, you have a dictator here who doesn't care what Congress says, who doesn't care if Congress doesn't want to spend $300 billion."
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Newsmax that Biden has a "ridiculous" legal basis for his recent executive order that cancels the student loan debt.
"It's a 2003 law called the Heroes Act that was meant to benefit military members right after 9/11 and help them with their debt forgiveness. [It] clearly says that in the law," Waltz said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Reuters contributed to this story.
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