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Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to overturn the Biden administration's unfair student loan schemes. These schemes transfer the burden of $400 billion in Federal student loans from those who willingly took on that debt to American taxpayers who never went to college and have already fulfilled their commitment to pay back their loans.

The resolution would also end the pause on student loan payments which, by August, will cost taxpayers almost $200 billion. President Biden has extended this pause 6 times for a total of 31 months, far beyond the original justification of the ongoing pandemic.

Make no mistake, these reckless student loan schemes do not forgive debt. They transfer the burden from those who willingly took out the loans to go to college to make more money when they graduated to Americans who never attended college or who already paid back their loans.

These policies are as unfair as they are responsible. Where is the forgiveness for the guy who didn't go to college but is working to pay off the loan on the truck he takes to work? What about the woman who paid off her student loans but now struggles to afford her mortgage? Is the administration providing them relief? No. Instead, the administration would not only have them pay their bills but the bills of those who decided to go to college to make more money.

President Biden's plan does nothing to address the problems that created the debt in the first place. It doesn't hold colleges or universities accountable for rising costs.

According to the college board, in the last 30 years, tuitions and fees have jumped at private nonprofit colleges by 80 percent. Public 4- year institutions have jumped 124 percent.

According to the Center for Responsible Federal Budget, if the student loan transfer goes into effect, students and taxpayers would be back in the same situation in 5 years. In 5 years, we will be right back where we are now because we are not reforming that which got us here. And total debt will again reach $1.7 trillion.

What is the plan for 5 years from now? The scheme also does not ensure that students are prepared for life after college. It creates a terrible moral hazard that signals to students that Federal student loans are not real commitments. It tells colleges that no matter how high they raise their prices or how low the quality of education they provide, the Federal Government will cover the tab, courtesy of the American taxpayer.

This is not leadership. We cannot spend our way out of the problem of ever-increasing costs of higher education. For Americans who cannot afford their debt or who want a proactive approach for paying off their loan commitments, Congress has already authorized 31 different active programs that help or forgive student loans. That is 31 different programs already in place to help forgive or offset student loans. They range from total forgiveness for teachers to loan cancellations for law enforcement officers, military, early childhood educators, and social workers, to name a few.

There is also repayment for high-demand fields where education is specialized and the need is a public good. For example, through the Department of Health and Human Services, a variety of different healthcare providers, including therapists, behavioral health providers, and those needed to help our children as we face this mental health crisis, are eligible for loan repayment.

In addition, there are five different programs already to keep payments low compared to a person's income and which cap the total time for repayment.

The mass transfer of debt, though, under this reckless student loan scheme forgets that these existing programs were set up to target limited taxpayer resources, to benefit those using their degrees to serve, and to fill broader public needs or who demonstrate that they themselves have a personal individual need.

Our resolution prevents average Americans--87 percent of whom do not have student loans--from being stuck with a policy that the administration is doing not to be fair to all but, rather, to favor the few.

Our resolution also protects the rule of law, which President Biden must know he is violating. During Supreme Court arguments on the legality of student loan forgiveness in February, Justice Roberts clearly indicated that if $400 billion was to be spent on student loan cancellation, it would require congressional approval. That has not been given.

This is a clear example of this administration attempting to subvert Congress for what appears to be purely political purposes. It sets a wildly dangerous precedent if left unchecked.

President Biden, Secretary Cardona, come to the table. There are real problems in the student loan system and Federal financing of higher education. Let's fix them legally through a bipartisan, lasting solution.

I will close by encouraging all my colleagues to join me in voting to pass this Congressional Review Act resolution to prevent these unconstitutional student debt forgiveness schemes. It is unfair to the hundreds of millions of Americans who will bear the burden of paying off hundreds of billions of dollars of someone else's student debt.

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