94 Republicans Demand That Pelosi Respond to Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) speaks during a House Oversight Committee at Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 9, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Nearly 100 Republican lawmakers are calling for a response from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after President Joe Biden announced last week that he would forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal student debt.

The demand came in a letter from Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) that was co-signed by 93 other Republicans.

On Aug. 24, after months of speculation that such a move was imminent, Biden announced the cancellation of as much as $20,000 in federal student debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers making less than $125,000 annually.

The letter notes that Pelosi had stated in July 2021 that Biden didn’t have the authority to grant such wide-reaching student debt relief.

“People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress,” Pelosi was cited as saying.

Loan Forgiveness Won’t Solve Problem

Beyond what they called “massive executive overreach” by Biden, whose move they said was illegal, the Republican signatories also contend that the cancellation would only further raise higher education costs.

The about $300 billion cancellation, Hice wrote, “will drive up the cost of higher education, exacerbating the very problem President Biden pretends to address.”

“Noticeably absent from the President’s plan is any plausible legal authority to implement such a policy,” the letter continues. “The legislative and executive branches each possess defined powers under the Constitution.

Hice said there’s no provision of the Constitution nor any act of Congress, including the Higher Education Act, that grants the president or the secretary of education the authority to unilaterally forgive student loans.

“Although we may disagree on many things, your statement in July 2021 was correct,” Hice wrote to Pelosi. “President Biden’s student loan giveaway is unconstitutional and illegal.”

He urged Pelosi to “act immediately in defense of our Constitution” and protect the powers of the legislative branch.

In a statement, Hice called Biden a “desperate politician” and said the president’s transfer of $300 billion in student loan debt onto the backs of taxpayers is “a politically craven stunt” that mocks the Constitution and rule of law.

“Speaker Pelosi has a choice to make,” Hice said in the statement. “Will she cave to the President’s shockingly illegal act or will she back up her own words by taking swift action?”