U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today issued the following statement after President Biden announced federal student loan handouts.
“Biden’s move to shift the burden of student loan debt from the borrower to hardworking Montana taxpayers is utterly unfair, wildly irresponsible and clearly unconstitutional. Many Montanans worked hard to pay off their student loans, spent years saving for their education or chose a path other than college, and now they will be forced to foot the bill of wealthy elites’ education,” said Senator Daines. “This plan will supersize our national debt and pour fuel on the inflation fire at a time when Montanans are already facing a recession and sky-high prices on everything from gas to groceries.”
A recent Penn-Wharton study estimated that “forgiving federal college student loan debt will cost between $300 billion and $980 billionover the next ten years.
The Committee for Responsible Budget (CRFB) notes that “…debt cancellation gives a much higher proportion of its benefit to top earners. For example, a report from the University of Chicago showed that the top 10 percent of earners receive more from cancellation than the entire bottom 30 percent of earners.”
CRFB also found that cancelling debt will not help the economy, rather it will drive prices up even more.
Contact: Rachel Dumke, Blake Kernen