Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans''
Floor Speech
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Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, my friend from Utah would be happy to know not everybody in the Democratic caucus thinks this is a great victory for President Biden. In fact, the original debt ceiling legislation that Republicans passed in the House would have, over a 10- year period, made unconscionable cuts to programs that working families, that children, the sick, the elderly, and the poor desperately need. It is a totally unconscionable piece of legislation passed by the Republican House.
And the best thing that I can say or that I think can be said about the current deal on the debt ceiling is that it could have been much worse. Instead of making massive cuts to healthcare, education, childcare, nutrition assistance, and other vital programs that low- income and working-class families depend upon over the next decade, this bill proposes to make modest cuts to these programs over a 2-year period.
This bill will also prevent an economic catastrophe by extending the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, when, by the way, we will have to go through this absurd process once again.
Having said that--having said and made clear that what we have before us is far, far better than what emanated in the Republican House, I have to make clear that I cannot vote for this bill.
At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, at a time when the people on top have never had it so good while the middle class shrinks and millions of working-class families live in desperation, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that takes vital nutrition assistance away from women, infants, children, and seniors while refusing to ask billionaires to start paying their fair share of taxes.
So, again, not as bad by any means as the bill passed in the House, this bill will cut nutrition programs for kids and the elderly; and, yet, the billionaires continue to laugh all the way to the bank. They don't have to pay a nickel more in taxes. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that makes it harder for working families to afford the outrageously high price of childcare, housing, and healthcare while making it easier for the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America to cheat on their taxes.
It is no great secret that the people on top and the large corporations with all their lawyers and accountants know how to avoid their fair share of taxes.
Last year, we took a step forward to put money into the IRS to address that. This bill makes cuts in that effort.
At a time when climate change is, by far, the most existential threat that this country has perhaps--and this world have ever faced, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that makes it easier for fossil fuel companies to pollute and destroy the planet by fast- tracking the disastrous Mountain Valley Pipeline. When the future of the world and the lives of our kids and grandchildren is literally at stake, we must have the courage to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them and the politicians they sponsor that the future of this planet is more important than their short-term profits.
At a time when we spend more on the military than the next 10 nations combined, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that increases funding for the bloated Pentagon and large defense contractors who continue to make huge profits by fleecing American taxpayers with impunity. Let me remind my colleagues that the Pentagon, which now gets over $800 billion a year--a year--is the only Federal Agency that cannot pass an independent audit or account for trillions of dollars in spending.
At a time when the pharmaceutical industry is charging the American people, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that does nothing to take on the greed of the big drug companies that are bankrupting Medicare and cancer patients while spending tens of billions on stock buybacks and dividends. If the United States paid the same price for prescription drugs as paid in Europe, we could cut Medicare spending by approximately $1 trillion over 10 years. But, apparently, we don't have quite the courage to take on the powerful pharmaceutical industry. It is easier to take on children and the elderly.
At a time when over 45 million Americans are drowning in student debt, I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a bill that eliminates the moratorium on student loan payments that has been a lifeline to millions of working-class families during the pandemic.
Deficit reduction cannot just be about cutting programs that working families, that children, the sick, the elderly, and the poor depend upon. They are the easy targets. You see, they don't have any lobbyists here. They don't make big campaign contributions. They don't wine and dine Members of the House and Senate. They are an easy target. We can cut programs that working-class and low-income people depend upon.
But when it comes to demanding that the billionaire class and profitable corporations start paying their fair share of taxes, when it comes to reining in out-of-control military spending and taking on the very powerful military industrial complex, when it comes to reducing the price of prescription drugs and taking on the pharmaceutical industry, and when it comes to ending billions of dollars in corporate welfare that goes to the fossil fuel industry and other corporate interests, well, that is another story. That is not something we are comfortable in doing. They are too powerful; make too many campaign contributions; have too many lobbyists. It is easy to go after the weak and the vulnerable.
The fact of the matter is that, in my judgment, this bill is totally unnecessary. The President of the United States has the authority and the ability to eliminate the debt ceiling today by invoking the 14th Amendment. I look forward to the day when he exercises that authority and puts an end, once and for all, to the outrageous actions of the extreme rightwing to hold our entire economy hostage in order to get what they want. H.J. Res. 45
Madam President, I would like to say a few words on another subject, and that is the effort here on the part of some of my Republican colleagues to repeal President Biden's student debt plan.
I rise in strong opposition to H.J. Res. 45 that we will be voting on tomorrow. This resolution would repeal President Biden's plan to provide up to $20,000 in student debt relief to over 40 million Americans who desperately need that relief.
Almost 90 percent of this student debt relief would go to Americans who make less than $75,000 a year. So anytime you hear Republicans say this is going to the wealthy, that ain't the case. Ninety percent of student debt relief goes to Americans who earn less than $75,000 a year. These are working-class people who are struggling to pay the rent--rents which are, in many cases, skyrocketing. They are struggling to pay for groceries. They are struggling to pay for the basic necessities of life. And they desperately need this relief.
Despite what our Republican colleagues have told us, President Biden's student debt relief plan does not benefit the wealthy. In fact, the top 5 percent of American households would not see a nickel in benefits under Biden's student debt relief plan--not one nickel.
And let us be clear. Not only would this resolution that we vote upon tomorrow deny up to $20,000 in student debt relief to over 40 million Americans, it would retroactively overturn the moratorium in student loan payments during the pandemic.
What does that mean? It means that tens of millions of Americans would be forced to pay back thousands of dollars in student loans and interest that were paused during the pandemic.
This is a program that started under President Trump and was continued under President Biden. Further, this resolution would retroactively claw back student debt that was previously canceled for more than 260,000 teachers, nurses, veterans, firefighters, librarians, and other public servants who successfully completed 10 years of public service. That would be absolutely unacceptable.
Over and over again, I have heard my Republican colleagues tell us that the time has come for younger Americans to pay for their college education just like they did 40 or 50 or 60 years ago. Well, I have got news for my Republican colleagues.
Back in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, even 1980s, the cost of a college education, housing, healthcare, childcare, and the basic necessities of life were a heck of a lot cheaper then than they are today.
When I was a young man, I attended Brooklyn College in 1959. Do you know how much I paid for tuition during that 1 year? Zero, at a very good college. And that was not unusual. The reality is that back then, tuition at many of our Nation's public colleges and universities was either free or virtually free. Young people don't know that, but that is, in fact, the case.
The University of California system, the largest public college system in the country, considered to be the crown jewel of public higher education in America, did not begin charging tuition until the 1980s.
In 1970, the average tuition at a four-year public university in America was just $814 a year. Today, it costs more than $9,300 a year. And the total cost of attending a public college or university in America--including room and board--is over $25,000.
In 1978, a student could get a minimum wage job in the summer and fully pay for a year of tuition at virtually any public college or university in America. Today, the only way that millions of working- class Americans can get a college education is to take out student loans with very high interest rates and graduate with tens and tens of thousands of dollars in debt. And if you go to graduate school, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Talk to medical students who will tell you they are going to graduate $4- or $500,000 in debt.
But it is not just the price of a college education that has soared. In 1970, the median cost of a home was $188,000 in real inflation- adjusted dollars. Today, it costs $497,000. And that is why many young people today are unable to afford to buy the kind of home that their parents were able to purchase.
In 1970, the average monthly rent was $805 in real dollars. Today, it costs nearly $2,000 a month. Over 40 years ago, a Federal Pell grant paid for over 80 percent of tuition, fees, room and board at a four- year public college. The Pell grant paid 80 percent. But today, because of massive cutbacks in education, Pell grants cover less than a third of those expenses.
Add all of that up and you understand why more than 45 million Americans are drowning in over $1.7 trillion in student debt.
So when my Republican colleagues in their sixties, seventies, and eighties lecture young people about the need to pay off their student debt, to get out of their parents' basement and to buy a home, just the way it used to be, I am afraid that they are way out of touch with the economic reality that so many young people are forced to live in today.
Further, my Republican colleagues want you to believe that it is just too expensive and too unfair to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief to a Pell grant recipient with an income of less than $60,000 a year--just too much. Can't afford it. We have big national debt; how can we possibly pay for it?
Well, actually, that is a pretty funny argument, given where many of my Republican colleagues are coming from. I remember not so long ago that my Republican colleagues had no problem voting to give away over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1 percent and large corporations when Donald Trump was President--without paying for it. No concern about the national debt back then when it comes to tax breaks for the very wealthiest people and largest corporations.
My Republican colleagues had no problem voting for a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street when George W. Bush was President--without paying for it. Hey, we have to bail out the crooks on Wall Street. Not a problem; don't worry about the deficit; we have to do it.
My Republican colleagues had no problem with voting for an $858 billion budget for the Pentagon this year, despite the fact that the Department of Defense is the only Federal Agency in America that cannot pass an independent audit and cannot account for trillions of dollars in spending. Don't worry about the deficit; don't worry about the national debt. Can't afford to help young people struggling with their student debt. Can't do that. But we can pump all kinds of money into the military, an institution which is wasting huge amounts of money and has not been able to do an independent audit.
But now, my Republican colleagues want you to believe--after giving huge tax breaks to the rich and large corporations and spending unbelievable amounts of money on the military, they want you to believe that we cannot afford to provide $20,000 in student debt relief to a Pell grant recipient who is struggling to put a roof over his or her head, pay for childcare, or put food on the table.
Let me be as clear as I can be: If we can afford to provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks and corporate welfare to the wealthy and powerful, we can and we must cancel student debt. If we can afford to provide a $1.4 billion tax break to the Koch family--Charles Koch family, one of the wealthiest families in America, worth $120 billion-- we can afford to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for a struggling, working-class college graduate.
And my understanding is that within a few weeks after all the discussion about the national debt and how we are going to deal with that, my Republican colleagues in the House are going to come up with another bill to give even more tax breaks to the people on top.
If Donald Trump could take Executive action to pause student debt payments when he was in office, please don't tell me that President Biden cannot take the same action to cancel student debt for working families who desperately need it.
Let's be clear: Canceling student debt is the right thing to do, not only from a moral and economic perspective, it is precisely what the American people want us to do.
According to a recent Fox News poll, 62 percent of the American people support canceling at least $20,000 in student debt for individuals making $125,000 a year or less. The American people understand that we cannot continue to crush our young generation with a mountain of debt for doing the right thing--getting a college education. A vote for this resolution would deny relief to over 40 million Americans across every State and every Congressional district.
A vote for this resolution would reinstate tens of billions of dollars in interest charges and loans that have already been canceled for teachers, firefighters, and other public service workers throughout America. We cannot allow that to happen. I urge my colleagues to vote against this resolution.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
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