OAN’s Noah Herring
11:56 AM – Thursday, June 1, 2023
The Republican-led effort to block President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program was passed a day after the measure cleared a procedural hurdle in the chamber.
Advertisement
The final vote, which comes a day after senators voted 51-46 to advance the measure, ended up a 52-46 vote to pass the legislation.
A few Democrats joined the Republicans to pass the bill, blocking Biden’s plan to give student loan forgiveness to millions of Americans. Democrat Senators Joe Manchin (D-Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) along with Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) voted with Republicans to send the legislation to Biden’s desk.
The vote needed a majority of senators to pass the legislation, but the White House has warned in a Statement of Administration Policy that Biden would veto the bill.
“This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief,” the statement said.
Last week, the measure was passed by the House with two Democrats voting with Republicans, supporting the measure.
Among an expected veto, the the U.S. Supreme Court, which has conservative majority, is expected to rule on two cases regarding Biden’s debt relief plan this month.
The debt ceiling legislation, which was passed by the House on Wednesday after negotiations from Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) concluded, is heading to the Senate. If the debt bill is signed into law, payments on federal loans which were paused during the start of the pandemic would resume. Although, it would not block Biden’s debt forgiveness plan, despite Republican attempts to do so.
Republicans have pointed out that Biden’s debt forgiveness plan burdens taxpayers and is unfair to those who have already worked to pay off their loans or did not attend college. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a repeal of the program would decrease the federal deficit by around $315 billion in the next decade.
“It is important to note his student debt ‘forgiveness’ plan does not actually forgive or cancel debt. It only transfers the burden from those who willingly chose to take out debt to attend college to those who chose not to go to college or already worked to pay off their loans,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote. “Making these taxpayers responsible for the debts of others is as irresponsible as it is unfair.”
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts