Ranking Member Cassidy on Biden Attempt to Shift Additional $9 Billion in Student Debt onto Taxpayers

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a statement following the Department of Education (ED) announcement that the Biden administration will shift an additional $9 billion in student debt onto taxpayers. This builds upon President Biden’s earlier $39 billion announcement using their new income-driven repayment (IDR) qualification standards, which has increased the number of borrowers who have received IDR debt cancelation.  

Last month, Cassidy and U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, demanded ED to explain what legal authority it using to justify changing the IDR qualification standards that resulted in the transferring of the original $39 billion in student debt onto taxpayers. The Biden administration has not responded to the request.

“The Department still refuses to share with Congress what statutory authority they are claiming to justify this expenditure of taxpayer dollars,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This is part of a pattern of the Biden administration illegally acting without congressional approval, costing the American people hundreds of billions of dollars.”

This action is in addition to President Biden’s new IDR rule, which will result in a majority of bachelor’s degree student loan borrowers not having to pay back even the principal on their loans, costing taxpayers as much as $559 billion. Last month, Cassidy introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn President Biden’s new IDR rule.

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