Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy accused President Joe Biden of using the cancellation of loans from 813,000 students to shore up political support for his 2024 reelection campaign, according to the Daily Mail.
On Tuesday, Cassidy tweeted, "Couldn't make it any clearer that Biden's ploy to force taxpayers who didn't go to college to saddle hundreds of billions of someone else's student debt is a ploy to gain political support for his reelection. No shame."
So far, the Biden administration has forgiven $127 billion in student debt for 3.5 million borrowers., despite the Supreme Court blocking a more expansive $400 billion cancelation plan in June. Beneficiaries of the recent forgiveness will receive emails from the president. The email from Biden reads, "Congratulations — your student loan has been forgiven because of actions my administration took to make sure you receive the relief you earned and deserve."
The timing of the debt forgiveness, coinciding with the approach of the 2024 election, has raised questions about its political motivations. However, a White House spokesperson defended the initiative, stating, "The president is committed to fighting for hardworking American families, making sure we get them a little more breathing room, and allowing them to support themselves and their families."
Biden himself later asserted that "this kind of relief is life-changing for individuals and their families. But it's good for our economy as a whole as well. By freeing millions of Americans from the crushing burden of student debt it means they can go and get their lives in order.
"They can think about buying a house. They can start a business. They can be starting a family. This matters. This matters to their daily lives."
Despite these assertions, the Biden administration's approach to student loan forgiveness has faced scrutiny. A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticized the original $430 billion student loan relief plan, which was later nullified by the Supreme Court, for lacking adequate anti-fraud safeguards. The GAO found that the Department of Education approved millions of borrower applicants without sufficiently verifying their information.