Lankford Votes to Block Biden’s Student Debt Transfer Scheme

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today voted to overturn President Biden’s student loan cancelation scheme. Lankford joined Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) and their colleagues to introduce the resolution to overturn Biden’s debt transfer, which would pass up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower onto taxpayers, costing an estimated $400 billion. The resolution passed in a vote of 51-46.

“The pandemic is over, but the Biden Administration is still trying to use COVID-19 as an excuse to transfer $400 billion of student loan debt to taxpayers,” said Lankford. “Oklahomans should not have to pay for someone else’s degree. With prices on the rise and our debt crisis getting worse by the day, the last thing we need is yet another debt-financed spending spree. At the same moment our nation is debating our growing debt, the Biden Administration is literally trying to increase our national debt another half a trillion by executive action.” 

Background                               

The resolution would also end the pause on student loan payments, which has cost taxpayers $5 billion a month and $195 billion in total and has been extended six times under the Biden Administration, far beyond the original pandemic justification. The most recent Biden extension is set to expire in August 2023. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that President Biden’s student loan policy is classified as a rule and is eligible to be overturned under the CRA.

Lankford joined Blackburn and 41 other senators in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court challenging the Biden Administration’s student loan cancelation program, which the Senators say circumvents the authority of Congress.

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