Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans''
Floor Speech
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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I hope the American people are watching this shameful act to halt assistance on student debt for millions of Americans.
Mr. Speaker, 90 percent of people who will benefit from President Biden's student relief make less than $75,000. To my good colleague from Texas, as he says, these folks making all of these difficult decisions, how about this: Why don't those folks who took out PPP loans over there, who got it completely forgiven, give that money back?
You are asking teachers, firefighters, all who are drowning in education debt, who will benefit from a public service loan forgiveness program, to pay it back while they are serving our country in all different forms, reverse it all, and pay the interest back as well. Let them struggle and suffer while, again, they are educating our children and protecting our communities.
This is all happening, Mr. Speaker, while the far-right Republicans have filed a sham lawsuit to take it before an unhinged, corrupt Supreme Court that has secretly accepted lavish trips and payments from billionaire Republican mega-donors while considering striking down student debt relief.
Now, our Republican colleagues, including many who took out over $20 million in PPP loans during the pandemic when everybody was suffering-- that were completely forgiven--want to hurt fellow Americans who aren't wealthy like they are. They want to repeal the President's student debt relief program that has changed the lives of 43 million Americans for the better.
Under President Biden's debt relief program alone, in Michigan over 1.3 million residents were helped with the burden of crushing student debt.
I don't know, Mr. Speaker. Maybe they are doing this because student relief is tied to racial justice. We know that more than 20 million borrowers will be completely debt free and one in four of them are Black borrowers.
Our communities have been denied the ability to build generational wealth for far too long, targeted by police violence, systemic racism, and an economic system that is fueled by corporate greed.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow the same Republicans who had millions of dollars in PPP loans forgiven to repeal student debt relief. The hypocrisy is disgusting.
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