President Joe Biden‘s student loan “cancellation” announcement represents a bet that Democrats can turn out young voters without turning off the noncollege working class or people who have paid back their loans in November’s midterm elections.
After months of speculation, Biden has announced a program that will allow $10,000 to be canceled for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for borrowers who received Pell Grants while in school.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES MASS STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM
The hotly debated issue is sure to become a major talking point in the midterm elections and even in the 2024 presidential election.
Shortly after the announcement, a 2020 clip from then-presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren began making the rounds, showing her interacting with a voter who wanted his money back after paying off student loans.
Flashback to 2020:
Voter: “My daughter is getting out of school. I saved all my money. She doesn’t have any student loans.”
Warren: “God bless, you!”
Voter: “Am I going to get my money back?”
Warren: “Of course not.” pic.twitter.com/8KPshqeFLi
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 24, 2022
Conservative groups roundly panned the move and predicted Biden will live to regret it.
“This is going to be a political disaster for President Biden,” said Job Creators Network CEO Alfredo Ortiz. “He is taking this illegal action to reward and motivate the youngest members of his base. However, the vast majority of American taxpayers are going to be outraged by Biden’s order because they played by the rules and will now have to pay off $300 billion.”
Similarly, Club for Growth President David McIntosh said the initiative will “do nothing except transfer that debt burden to taxpayers” and called the move “another government boondoggle.”
Any student debt negated by Biden will not truly be canceled but will be lumped in with the national debt, undermining any gains from the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.
But Democrats think the student loans move can help bring their base to the polls.
“Midterms are all about turnout,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “I think the Pell Grant deferral helps with black voters, and I think the overall deferral of $10,000 helps with young voters.”
While just 13% of the population has student loans, there is some polling to back up the Democratic position.
Nearly half of respondents in a poll from left-wing think tank Data for Progress said broad student loan forgiveness would motivate them to vote, and a Morning Consult poll found that pushing back the repayment date was broadly popular with younger voters.
But not every Democrat is on board. The NAACP has pushed for $50,000 of loan forgiveness, calling the $10,000 figure a “slap in the face,” while Democratic Reps. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Chris Pappas (D-NH), who are both in competitive races, released statements panning the move.
“As someone who’s paying off my own family’s student loans, I know the costs of higher education are too high,” said Ryan, who is running for an Ohio Senate seat against J.D. Vance. “And while there’s no doubt that a college education should be about opening opportunities, waiving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet.”
Ultimately, this particular issue may end up being a wash come November, argues Republican strategist Doug Heye.
“It’s hard to see this have any real impact on the midterms,” he said. “Democrats are divided on Biden‘s actions. Some, like the NAACP, are critical that he hasn’t done enough, and others are just happy that he’s done something.”
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Republican candidates, he says, should focus on the long-term impact and the big-picture issue of inflation.
“The GOP messaging on this should be simple — this will increase inflation and potentially lead to tuition increases,” Heye said. “Republicans should be talking about inflation all day every day and anything that may impact it.”
