(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Glenn Grothman (WI-06) has reintroduced the Protecting Taxpayers from Student Loan Bailouts Act. This bill will prevent future Administrations from replicating President Biden’s student loan bailout scheme that could have cost taxpayers—many of whom didn’t attend college or already paid off their loans—up to $1.4 trillion.
“The amount of student loan debt in this country is an embarrassment to our entire educational system,” said Grothman. “My bill helps shield Americans’ pocketbooks against debt forgiveness schemes like those of former President Joe Biden that sparks inflation, adds to our national debt, and tanks our economy, all without Congressional approval. Legal questions aside, the pattern of encouraging student debt cancellation is insulting to every American who paid their loans or never attended college.”
Background Information
Former President Biden’s approach to student loan forgiveness was a series of failed attempts and questionable maneuvers. His campaign promises of “forgiving” student loan debt turned into taxpayer-funded bailouts. The push for repayment moratoriums as functions of de facto forgiveness cost taxpayers billions of dollars each month. This was a blatant misuse of government resources. In August 2022, the Biden Administration attempted to manipulate the HEROES Act to provide a bailout of up to $40,000 to households earning up to $250,000 annually. Fortunately, the Supreme Court rightly struck it down, recognizing the action as a blatant overreach of executive authority. In response, the Biden Administration attempted to utilize the Higher Education Act of 1965 in pursuit of federal student loan waivers through a process that excluded the Legislative Branch. Grothman’s bill, the Protecting Taxpayers from Student Loan Bailouts Act, requires that the Department of Education review the fiscal impact of any future plans to forgive student loan debt to ensure costs to the federal government do not increase and result in taxpayers footing the bill. Any regulation that does not meet this standard would be prohibited from issuance, fundamentally prohibiting any future administration from ordering broad student loan forgiveness.
