A staffer for a Democratic congresswoman boasted online Wednesday that President Biden’s student loan bailout — an executive action that his boss publicly opposed in the past — had ಞbꦕeen extended to him
“Just got a call to let me know my student debt has been canceled,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) communications director Ben Kamens .
“This is why eleওctions matter. Thanks @JoeBiden,” added Kamens, sharing a p♏icture of the form which read, “Congratulations! The Biden-Harris Administration has forgiven your federal student loan(s) … in full.”
Kamens had $8,250 in student loans dating as far back as 2010 forgiven by the Education Department’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which is expected to bilk US taxpayers of $475 billion over the next 10 years.
The Kaptur spokesman netted around $80,0😼00 in 2023, according to the congressional staff salary database on LegiStorm.
In꧂ Ohio’s Ninth Congressional District, which Kaptur represents, the median household income was $62,077🌌, .
Kamens’ post had received m💎ore than 18.7 million views as of Thursday morning, with many netizens slamming the Kaptur aide and pointing out the address listed on the form was a half-million dollar house in Pennsylvania.
Others drew attention to his proud announcement on X last July that he was a Philadelphia Eagles “,” which costs an average of $2,692 annually.
“No doubt the working people of America are thrilled to step in because, despite having received the service you took out the loan to buy, you couldn’t be bothered to pay off $8,250 in principal in fourteen years—which is $589/year,” National Review senior editor on X.
“You’re welcome. Freeloader,” .
“Yes I enjoy ‘free’ stuff that other people pay for as well,” of the Manhattan Institute.
“‘This is why elections matter’ is quite a damning indictment of the way politics is currently functioning,” . “We’ve gone from a revolution over ‘taxation without representation’ to ‘vote for those who will tax others to pay off my personal debts.'”
Kamens did not immedi🥂ately respond to a request for comment.
Biden, 81, announced the SAVE Plan in July 2023, weeks after the Supreme Court overturned hಞis earlier $430 billion student debt cancellation attempt for more than 40 mill💫ion borrowers. ;
Kaptur had criticized the earlier move by the Biden admini♌stration to unilaterally forgive the debt, citing political, fiscal and constitutional෴ issues.
“What about the people who paid off th🔯eir loans?” she was quoted as saying in August 2022 by the .
“What about the people who🅷 didn’t rack up that level of debt? What about people who put college on hold? What about the systemic problems we have in the student loan program, where you walk into an admissions🍸 office at a college and they give you a credit card, and you get the money, and you can spend the money on a car or a vacation or whatever, and then the student doesn’t graduate,” Kaptur went on.
“There was no consultation with Congress. The𝐆 last time I checked the Constitution, you can’t impact the bot෴tom line of the federal treasury without some bill moving through Congress,” she added.
“I think the president probably overrea𒁏ched his authority on this one🦄.”
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Education Secretary♛ Miguel Cardona’s implementation of the student debt cancellation, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying he lacked “‘clear congressional authorization’ to justify the challenged program.”
“The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it,” Roberts wr𝐆ote in the majority opinion. “So too here, where the Secretary of Education claims the authority, on his own, to release 43 million borroweꦇrs from their obligations to repay $430 billion in student loans. The Secretary has never previously claimed powers of this magnitude.”
Roberts added that the administration had fallen short 𒆙of demonstrating that it had “‘clear congressional authorization’ to justify the challenged program.”
Despite her earlier public opposition, Kaptur against House measures expressing disapproval with the federal loan cancellations — once before and once after the high court’s decision.
“It’s obvious Joe Biden’s unc♛onstitutional student loan forgiveness sham is the easiest way for him to buy votes, but Marcy Kaptur’s voting record in support for this scheme shows just how out of touch she is wi⛦th the voters of Northwest Ohio” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement.
Democratic ﷽and Republican lawmakers ha𓃲d also opposed the bailout for forcing taxpayers who paid off their loans — or never attended college — to shoulder the burden of others’ student debt.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (Rꦏ-La.), the ranking member on the Healt🌃h, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has said the SAVE Plan is no different.
“Make no mistake, Biden’s newest student loan scheme only transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans to Americans who never attended college or 🍌who already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans,” Cassidy said last July, ripping the income-driven repayment rule “irresponsible” and▨ “unfair.”
As the Biden administration has continued to cancel other portions of student borrowers’ loans through a piecemeal approach, Cassidy has gone further and accused the president of engaging in an election-year “ploy” for votes.
“This is an unfair ploy to buy votes before an election,” he said in April, “and does absolutely nothing to address the high cost of education that puts young people right back into debt.”
