Wicker, Hyde-Smith Fight Biden’s Unlawful Student Debt Policy

Miss. Senators Join Resolution to Overturn Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., on Monday joined 39 of their Republican colleagues in a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn President Biden’s student loan debt transfer scheme.

If enacted, the resolution (S.J.Res.22) would stop Biden’s plan to transfer up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower onto taxpayers with no conditions, costing an estimated $400 billion.

“The president’s plan never had any legal footing, and it is an insult to working Americans who chose to avoid student debt or have repaid it in full,” Wicker said. “This is not a ‘forgiveness’ plan. It’s an unconditional debt transfer. Repealing this scheme would protect our current workforce from footing someone else’s bill and teach our next generation that they cannot expect others to pay for their obligations.”

“President Biden is leading Americans to believe he can make student debt disappear because that sounds much nicer than the truth, which is that he is just handing over the burden of student loans to hardworking Americans who have either paid off their loans or chose not to borrow,” Hyde-Smith said. “This legislation would block this socialist scheme and protect Mississippians from being forced pay off someone else’s debts.”

In addition to repealing the President’s student loan debt “forgiveness” plan, the CRA would also end the pause on student loan payments, which costs taxpayers $5 billion a month and has been extended six times under the Biden administration, far beyond the original pandemic justification. The pause will have cost Americans a total of $195 billion by the time Biden’s most recent extension is set to expire in August.

On March 17, the Government Accountability Office announced that President Biden’s student loan policy is classified as a rule and is eligible to be overturned under the CRA.

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-La. introduced the CRA. In addition to Wicker and Hyde-Smith, additional cosponsors include U.S. Senators John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., John Boozman, R-Ark., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Ted Budd, R-N.C., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., John Kennedy, R-La., James Lankford, R-Okla., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., James Risch, R-Idaho, Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Tim Scott, R-S.C., John Thune, R-S.D., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Todd Young, R-Ind.

U.S. Representatives Mike Ezell, R-Miss., and Michael Guest, R-Miss., cosponsored the companion CRA resolution (H.J.Res.45), which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Representative Bob Good, R-Va.

###