Elizabeth Warren slams Republicans' efforts to block Biden's student-loan forgiveness, saying 'it won't work' and prioritizes 'the profits of corporate loan servicers'
Lawsuits from Republicans are mounting on Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan.
Elizabeth Warren said it "won't work" and is an attempt to bring profits to student-loan companies.
Biden maintains he has the authority to enact the relief and told Republicans to "bring it on."
Democrats are continuing to push back on conservative efforts to stop President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan in its tracks.
After Biden announced up to $20,000 in federal debt relief for borrowers making under $125,000 a year at the end of August, Republicans were quick to criticize the plan, calling it costly, unfair, and illegal — and some of them turned those comments into legal action. Over the past few weeks, a number of lawsuits have arisen from GOP state attorneys general and conservative borrowers. While any of them have yet to prevail, Democratic lawmakers, and even Biden himself, have slammed those efforts.
"Republican officials are so angry about @JoeBiden helping working people that they're suing to stop student debt cancellation," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter on Monday. "It won't work, but it shows their priorities: putting the profits of corporate loan servicers over relief for working-class & middle-class Americans."
This came after remarks from Biden over the weekend to the Congressional Black Caucus when speaking of his administration's accomplishments.
"I know I'm being banged up by the Republicans, but bring it on," Biden said. "We can afford to cancel $10,000 in student debt and 20,000 bucks if you had a Pell Grant for Americans making under 125 grand."
"It's a gamechanger," Biden added. "And I don't want to hear a word from those members of Congress, if you notice, whose families got tens of thousands of dollars and several million dollars in pandemic relief loan forgiveness. The same ones criticizing. Give me a break. Come on. They voted for that."
Biden was referring to the GOP lawmakers who had loans forgiven through the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created during the pandemic to give small business owners financial relief. As Insider previously reported, many of those members had criticized Biden's debt relief, which some Democrats and the White House called hypocritical.
It's unclear how the lawsuits will progress. Last week, a group of six GOP-led states filed a lawsuit against the relief, Arizona later filed its own suit, and a federal judge declined to block Biden's loan forgiveness following a suit filed by an Indiana lawyer who argued he would be harmed by the debt relief. Biden's administration maintains it has the authority to carry out this relief under the HEROES Act of 2003, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to modify or waive student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like the pandemic.
Those criticizing the relief have argued it's overstepping that authority, countering Democrats' claims that the loan forgiveness is well within the law. Republicans have also taken the legislative route to block debt relief — GOP Sen. Rick Scott, for example, introduced legislation that would require Congress to approve any blanket debt relief, and Warren called it a "shameless attempt" to block the plan.
"Sen. Scott's bill is just one of Republicans' desperate efforts to block cancellation for millions of Americans," Warren said. "Now, Republicans are happy to pass out tax breaks and regulatory loopholes for billionaires and giant corporations, but they are fighting tooth and nail to keep working families from getting a penny of relief."
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