McConnell: Student Loan Forgiveness 'a Slap in the Face'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday hit back at President Joe Biden’s move to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt from those who make less than $125,000 per year.

"President Biden's student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt," McConnell said in a statement. "This policy is astonishingly unfair."

He continued, "President Biden's inflation is crushing working families, and his answer is to give away even more government money to elites with higher salaries. Democrats are literally using working Americans' money to try to buy themselves some enthusiasm from their political base."

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the ranking Republican on the House education and labor committee, also criticized the move in a statement.

"President Biden will say and do anything to appease his radical progressive base, even if it means bankrupting our country and kneecapping taxpayers in the midst of an inflation crisis. This is a slap in the face to those who never went to college, as well as borrowers who upheld their responsibility to taxpayers and paid back their loans," Foxx said. "It's a signal to every freshman stepping foot on campus to borrow as much as they can because taxpayers are picking up the tab."

Democrats, particularly progressives, hailed Biden's decision.

"This is an important first step to provide critical relief to millions of working people struggling to make ends meet under the burden of their debt," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote on Twitter. "It also can't be the end of this discussion.

"There are millions more who have so much debt that even $20,000 only puts a small dent in what they owe. We won't stop fighting until we cancel every dollar of student debt for every American."

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