(TheConservativeNews.org) – In August, President Joe Biden signed the most expensive executive order in history.
The government would forgive up to $10,000 for each student loan borrower provided their individual income was less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for married couples), according to the White House fact sheet. The order would forgive up to $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients in the same income brackets.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of canceling this debt will top $400 billion. The backlash from Americans who found this initiative unfair, unnecessary and nakedly political was swift, severe and, for most of us, memorable. Apparently, it made much less of an impression on Biden.
During a panel discussion with digital media company NowThis, which aired on Sunday, Biden seemingly forgot that his student loan debt bailout had been achieved via executive order. He told the group the measure had been passed by Congress.
Biden said, “It’s passed. I got it passed by a vote or two.”
This is concerning, to say the least. Does he really think Congress passed the student debt bailout? Does he not remember signing the executive order?
Critics on social media, including a number of journalists, quickly made note of Biden’s comment, with some wondering why fact-checkers weren’t weighing in on the president’s falsehood, and others wondering if Biden was even aware that what he said was wrong.
“President Biden claims his student loan executive order is a law that was passed by Congress and signed by him,” columnist Eddie Zipperer said. “If this is a lie, it’s beyond the pale. If Biden thinks this is true, then he has no clue what’s happening around him.”
Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle made a similar observation, noting that Biden was either intentionally misrepresenting his student loan payout plan in “Trumpian fashion,” or he legitimately could not distinguish between a bill and an executive order.
“Having willfully violated his oath of office by issuing an executive order he knows is flatly illegal—and having then tried to dodge review by the courts by amending it on the fly —Biden is now lying about it having gone through Congress,” National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke tweeted.
Greg Price tweeted, “This dementia ridden fool is not actually running the country. His handlers write words on a teleprompter and he repeats them. He barely even knows anything about his own policies. Just embarrassing…”
Biden’s plan calls for the federal government to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt – $20,000 for Pell grant recipients – for borrowers who earn up to $125,000 a year or married couples who make up to $250,000. The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades.
The Justice Department is defending the program, arguing that it is supported by the HEROES Act, a 2003 law that allows the U.S. Secretary of Education to “waive or modify” provisions that apply to federal student loan programs in cases of national emergencies.
“COVID-19 is such an emergency,” the DOJ argued in a court filing.
The other fact is, a federal appeals court has temporarily stopped the Biden administration from moving ahead with a plan to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars of federal student loan debt.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an order that prohibits the Biden administration from “discharging any student loan debt” under the relief program until it rules on an emergency request by Republican-led states to block the policy.
The Biden administration had previously said in court filings it could begin canceling student loans as early as this Sunday.
