OAN’s Brooke Mallory
1:00 PM – Friday, December 8, 2023
President Joe Biden’s claimed intentions to forgive student loan debt is drawing criticism yet again, with one well-known investor and television personality calling the move “un-American.”
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O’Leary Ventures Chairman and former Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary called the administration’s student debt cancellation program “unfair” during his appearance on “FOX & Friends” on Thursday.
O’Leary went on to say that while pursuing a college degree, it is the individual’s “responsibility” to pay back their loan and their responsibility alone.
“Why would one cohort of graduates in this particular time be forgiven [for] their loan when everybody else that came before them or after them potentially has to pay back their debt?” he asserted.
Over 80,000 borrowers would be affected by the additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt reduction that the Biden administration announced again on Wednesday.
“Forgiving debt is such a horrific idea,” O’Leary told co-host Steve Doocy.
“What about if you were in the military and you served your country, and then you went and borrowed money—$60,000, $80,000, and you have to pay it back and these people don’t? I mean, that’s just wrong,” he continued.
The Secretary of Education is not permitted by federal law to waive more than $430 billion in student loan debt, the Supreme Court said in a 6-3 ruling in June. The president promptly disapproved of the court’s ruling.
“I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families,” Biden claimed in a statement.
“I find this [is] just something that many people are going to find offensive because it’s so unfair,” O’Leary said, referencing Biden’s remarks. “It’ll become an issue” as the 2024 presidential election nears.
On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who is also running for a 2024 GOP presidential bid, spoke on the nation’s issue of student debt at the fourth debate.
DeSantis proposed that student loans be “backed by the universities because they need to have an incentive to produce gainful employment for people.”
“It’s a creative solution to an issue that’s even larger,” O’Leary said in response to DeSantis’ proposal. “We’re less than a year away from choosing a new president. I love it when we’re teaching our young to be fiscally responsible. That’s what we need to do,” he explained.
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