Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Improving Income Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (Ffel) Program''

Floor Speech

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Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership on this.

I rise in strong support of H.J. Res. 88 to block President Biden's taxpayer-funded student loan bailout.

Here we go again. If you don't succeed, and the Supreme Court says it is not constitutional, well, let's find another way, find another mechanism.

That is exactly what we are facing today.

We are standing in the gap, Mr. Speaker. This rule unjustly imposes an excessive burden on hardworking American taxpayers, who should not be forced to shoulder the responsibility for student debt that is not their own.

It is not a coincidence that on the same day the Supreme Court found the Biden administration's first attempt at loan forgiveness unconstitutional, the Department of Education announced this final rule to allow a majority of bachelor's degree student loan borrowers to avoid paying back even the principal on their loans.

Let me be clear: This rule does not offer genuine debt forgiveness. Instead, it shifts the weight of $559 billion in Federal student loans onto the shoulders of almost 90 percent of Americans who don't have those student loans. This includes individuals who may earn significantly less than those who took out the loans in the first place.

Rather than addressing the root causes of a student loan debt crisis, the administration would rather transfer the financial burden onto taxpayers, exacerbating our ongoing issues with inflation and contributing further to our staggering $33 trillion of national debt. This approach is not only flawed but fundamentally unfair to those who opted not to attend college, who diligently paid their own way through school, or who have already successfully paid off their own student loans.

This is what the White House is pushing. By the way, they are also pushing dollars into institutions like Harvard, Penn, and other schools where, as we found out this week, the presidents can't even admit there are anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish hatred messages in their own institutions happening. They can't even admit it.

As a Texan, I can confidently tell you that no hardworking constituent in my district wants to pay for any degree at Harvard using taxpayer money, certainly not ours. By the way, until the presidents of those universities acknowledge the anti-Jewish messages and hatred that has occurred on their college campuses, I urge Congress not to send another dollar of Federal money to any of those institutions.

House Republicans are blocking the Biden administration's illogical and unreasonable student bailout program, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort.

Let's be clear: It is not fair and not American, and the Supreme Court has said it is unconstitutional that Americans should bear the burden of student loans that they did not incur themselves.

Mr. Speaker, for that reason, I urge a strong stance on this, and I urge my colleagues to protect the hard-earned dollars of American taxpayers and prevent further financial strain.

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