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Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, today I introduced the Congressional Review Act, a resolution of disapproval to overturn the Biden administration's newest student loan scheme: income-driven repayment. Just like President Biden's student loan cancellation scheme that was overturned by the Supreme Court, this policy does not forgive debt, it transfers the burden of almost $560 billion in Federal student loans from those who willingly took out the loans for college to make more money when they graduated to Americans who never attended college or who have already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans.

Under this rule, a majority of bachelor's degree student loan borrowers will not be expected to even pay back the principal. We have moved beyond forgiving the interest, and we are now not even asking them to pay back the principal.

Additionally, 91 percent of new student loan debt would be eligible for reduced payments subsidized by taxpayers. These policies are as unfair as they are irresponsible. Where is the forgiveness for the guy who didn't go to college but is working to pay off the loan on the truck that he takes to work?

What about the woman who paid off her student loans but now struggles to pay her utilities or her mortgage? Is the administration providing her relief? Of course not. Instead, the administration would have them not only pay their bills but the bills of those who decided to go to college in order to get a degree to make more money.

The resolution prevents average Americans, 80 percent of whom have no student loans, from being stuck with a policy that the administration is pushing not to be fair to all but rather to favor a few. The Supreme Court has already established the President does not have the authority to cancel hundreds of billions in student loans without direct consent from Congress. It is clear President Biden is trying to deflect the political fallout of the false promises that he never had the legal authority to make.

President Biden's plan did 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 in private nonprofit colleges by 80 percent. At public 4-year institutions, they jumped 124 percent. The Biden administration has refused to propose any solution that actually addresses the underlying problems that created the debt crisis in the first place.

We cannot spend our way out of the problem of the ever-increasing costs of higher education. We need real solutions. That is why my colleagues and I introduced the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act, a package of five bills aimed at directly addressing the issues driving skyrocketing costs of higher education and the increasing amounts of debt students take on to attend school.

Our legislation puts downward pressure on tuition, empowering students to make the educational decisions that put them on track to academically and financially succeed. It also simplifies the student loan borrowing and repayment process so students don't take out more loans than they need and can navigate the student loan process without confusion. Unlike President Biden's student loan schemes, these are commonsense solutions that actually address root causes of the student loan crisis. In fact, some of the bills included in the package already have strong bipartisan support.

President Biden's student loan scheme is not a fix; it is merely a bandaid forcing taxpayers to shoulder the responsibility of paying off someone else's debt. We need strong leadership.

President Biden's failure to address rising tuition costs won't hurt the rich; only the middle- and lower-income Americans who will continue to be punished, forced to take out more and more loans just to get an education.

I will close by urging all my colleagues to support my Congressional Review Act resolution to prevent President Biden's reckless student loan scheme and to work together on real solutions to tackle the rising cost and debt of students. If we don't act, students will continue to drown in debt without a path for success.

(Mr. MARKEY assumed the Chair.)

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