President Joe Biden made a claim Wednesday that even his own people probably aren’t able to translate.
“I went to the Supreme Court to eliminate student debt that was out there,” he said, in video shared by RNC Research to X. “And guess what? Supreme Court ruled against me, but I still 136 million people[‘s] debt relieved.”
There are so many problems with that statement, even as short as it is.
Biden claims he got “136 million peoples’ [student] debt relieved.”
He is lying — again. pic.twitter.com/e2LLJTyqrg
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 20, 2023
Let’s start with the fact that Biden didn’t go “to the Supreme Court” to do anything at all. He attempted an unconstitutional action to shift the burden of about $400 billion in student debt away from the people who incurred it and onto the shoulders of the American taxpayer.
He wouldn’t describe it that way, of course — liberals like to pretend that “debt relief” just makes that debt disappear into the ether. It does no such thing, of course — debt must be repaid by someone. If not by the people who actually owe it, that by people who you don’t.
What actually happened was the Biden tried to pull an unconstitutional fast one, and didn’t go to the Supreme Court but was taken there against his will by a lawsuit that he ended up losing.
Do you support Biden’s student loan forgiveness policies?
His next statement seemed to be a little more problematic, as he essentially dismissed the ultimate arbiter of United States law as a minor annoyance when it came to getting his goals accomplished.
But the real issue with Biden’s comments is what he claimed to have accomplished.
“I still 136 million people[‘s] debt relieved,” you will recall he said.
Um, no. He didn’t. Not even close.
On the one hand, there are only about 40 million people in the country who even have any student debt, according to the Washington Examiner.
On the other hand, Biden’s own White House said in a statement only two weeks ago that the administration had brought “debt relief” to only 3.6 million of those, or about 9 percent of all student loan holders in the country.
On the third hand — you’re going to have to lend me one of yours, I guess — the total amount of debt “relieved” has been $132 billion — which would appear, perhaps, to be the source of the “136” number Biden cited as a number of people, not a dollar amount, but … I don’t know.
I’m not sure he does, either.
For what it’s worth, the White House statement from Dec. 6 appears in its entirety below. Maybe you can figure out what the leader of the free world was talking about.
Today my Administration is approving another $4.8 billion in student debt cancellation for 80,300 people. This relief is thanks to my Administration’s efforts to fix Public Service Loan Forgiveness, so teachers, members of the military, nurses, and other public service workers get the relief they have earned. And it’s because of actions my Administration took to make sure that borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 20 years – but didn’t accurately get credit for student loan payments – get the relief they are entitled to. This brings the total debt cancellation my Administration has approved to $132 billion for over 3.6 million Americans through various actions.
Today’s announcement comes on top of all we’ve been able to achieve for students and student loan borrowers in the past few years. This includes: achieving the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to help families who earn less than roughly $60,000 a year; fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program so that borrowers who go into public service get the debt relief they’re entitled to under the law; and creating the most generous Income-Driven Repayment plan in history – the SAVE plan. Borrowers can go to studentaid.gov to apply. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.
From Day One of my Administration, I vowed to improve the student loan system so that a higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity – not unmanageable burdens of student loan debt. I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.
