Indiana lawmakers react to new Biden student loan proposal
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Reaction to President Joe Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan broke along party lines Tuesday, a day after Biden announced he would take a second swing at the issue.
Biden on Monday announced a new plan meant to reduce student loan burdens. It’s his second attempt to do so after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his original proposal last summer.
Biden’s new plan would forgive up to $20,000 in interest payments for people who owe more on their loans now than when they first took them out. It would forgive all debts for borrowers who have been making payments for at least 20 years and for anyone who is eligible for a loan cancelation program but has not enrolled in it. The plan also would direct the Department of Education to come up with a way to forgive loan debts for people who are unable to make payments due to financial hardship.
U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin, an Indiana Republican who serves on the House Higher Education Subcommittee, called Biden’s plan an election-year stunt meant to lure younger voters. She tells News 8 she expects legal challenges similar to the one that felled the original plan.
Houchin says Congress and the Biden administration should instead focus on getting the economy back on track and enacting tougher rules for universities offering financial support going forward. “This would be a transfer of wealth from working Americans to people who have gone to college and are in higher income brackets, and that’s just fundamentally unfair.”
State Sen. JD Ford, the ranking Democrat on the Indiana Senate’s Education and Career Development Committee and a higher education facilities professional, says student loan debt is one of the most common issues he hears about from his constituents. He says he understands the fairness argument, but student loans are what allowed many people to get a degree. Ford says he was the first member of his family to attend college and he’s still paying off his loans.
“The part that’s really, really tricky is that interest,” he said. “You know, there are people who want to pay it back but because of the interest, they get trapped in that high-interest loan.”
The Department of Education still has to go through the rulemaking process that would allow Biden’s proposal to move forward. In his Monday announcement, Biden said he expected some borrowers could see relief under the program as early as this fall.