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Politics

Senate votes to reverse Biden student loan bailout as Supreme Court ruling looms

By
Victor Nava
Published June 1, 2023
Updated June 1, 2023, 6:28 p.m. ET

The Senate voted Thursday to repeal President Biden’s student loan debt cancellation plan, a largely symbolic effort that the White House says the commander-in-chief will veto. 

The legislation passed the upper chamber 52-46, with Democrats Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia voting with all 49 Republicans in favor of the resolution.  

Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona also voted to repeal the giveaway, while two other Democratic senators – Mark Warner of Virginia and Michael Bennet of Colorado – did not vote. 

The bill, which passed the House along party lines last week, would overturn Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt from certain borrowers and also nullify the pandemic-era pause on student loan payments that has been in place since March 2020. 

The president’s student loan forgiveness order is currently on hold as the Supreme Court weighs whether the plan violates the Constitution. A ruling is expected later this month.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Manchin said he voted to repeal the president’s plan because the country “simply cannot afford to add another $400 billion to the national debt.”

Sen. Joe Manchin
Sen. Joe Manchin voted alongside all 49 Republicans to nix Biden’s student loan plan. Getty Images

“There are already more than 50 existing student loan repayment and forgiveness programs aimed at attracting individuals to vital service jobs, such as teachers, health care workers, and public servants,” he said. “This Biden proposal undermines these programs and forces hard-working taxpayers who already paid off their loans or did not got to college to shoulder the cost.”

The resolution passed without the two-thirds majority needed to thwart Biden’s expected veto and Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) acknowledged Thursday that the bill was dead-on-arrival at the White House.

“Unfortunately, the president is guaranteed to veto the measure, and there are not enough Democrats in the House and Senate to be willing to override his veto,” Thune said.

Activist Jennifer Flynn-Walker (R) joins student loan borrowers at a Sit-In on Capitol Hill at the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to urge him to stop trying to block student debt cancellation on May 09, 2023.
A number of Democratic lawmakers condemned the legislation, with one lawmaker calling it “cruel.” Getty Images for We, The 45 Million

A number of Democratic lawmakers condemned the legislation, with one lawmaker calling it “cruel.”

“Republicans’ cruel attempt to stand in the way of President Biden’s plans to provide relief to tens of millions of Americans suffering under the crushing weight of student loan debt is damaging to our economy and wildly out of touch with the financial realities facing working families,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass).

The White House has indicated that some 26 million applications for loan forgiveness had been received before a lower court in Texas blocked the program in November, and that 16 million of those applications have been approved.

One of the legal challenges against Biden’s debt cancellation plan was brought by six Republican-led states and another was brought by the conservative Job Creators Network Foundation, which is backing a lawsuit filed by two student loan borrowers who did not qualify for the full benefits of the program.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in February.