Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Newsmax Wednesday President Joe Biden's action to forgive $10,000 of student debt is an "abuse of executive power."
"This is the continued abuse of executive power," Roy said during "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Now we've got to try to find people with standing to challenge it in court. But the biggest thing we could do is have a Republican [majority in] Congress."
Biden announced Wednesday that he was forgiving $10,000 of federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year and another $10,000 each for those who won Pell grants for disadvantaged students.
"President Biden believes that a post-high school education should be a ticket to a middle-class life. But for too many, the cost of borrowing for college is a lifelong burden that deprives them of that opportunity," a senior White House official said Wednesday. "During the campaign, the president promised to provide targeted student debt relief. And today, the Biden administration is following through on that promise with a plan that will benefit tens of millions of middle-class Americans, their families and the economy as a whole."
According to a recent article on the Nerdwallet website, federal student loan debt totals $1.62 trillion with 43 million borrowers and accounts for about 92% of all student debt in the nation.
Of the 43 million federal student loan borrowers, 24.9 million are in forbearance, or temporarily postponing repayment of the obligation; another 7.5 million are in default; 1.2 million are in a grace period; 3.1 million are in deferment; and 400,000 — less than 1% — are actively repaying the notes, according to the article.
Roy said that the move, which he said may not even be legal, is a slap in the face to people who have either already paid off their loans, never had loans or worked to start a business on their own, relying on themselves to face the financial consequences.
"These are liberal, white elitists who are trying to screw over the American people," Roy said,"[people who are] working hard trying to follow the American dream."
Roy said the estimated $300 billion the debt relief will cost will more than offset any perceived "deficit reduction" the administrations claims will result from the recently passed $700 million Inflation Reduction Act.
"Go tax those big, liberal Ivy League endowments; but that's not what we're going to do," Roy said. “We're going to take this money out of the hides of hardworking Americans in the form of either direct payments or by borrowing more money, screwing over the future of our kids and grandkids in this country."
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