Washington Watch

Debt ceiling deal would terminate student loan pause

Tlaib the only member of Michigan delegation to vote no

President Joe Biden’s student loan pause would be terminated if the House-passed version of the debt ceiling bill is enacted into law.

Often times, Michigan’s 13 representatives in the U.S. House vote along party lines.

But on House Resolution 3746, the bill to raise America’s debt ceiling, the Michigan delegation put up a united front in favor of the increase — almost. There was one no vote: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Dearborn.

Sixty days from June 30, the student loan pause would end, according to the bill that passed the House on Wednesday. This term prompted Tlaib’s to vote against the deal.

Read it for yourself: House Resolution 3746: Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

The bill passed in a 314-117 vote, with four members not voting.

While as little as one crossover vote earns a bill “bipartisan” status, House Resolution 3746 was a true two-party effort, as the Republican total of 149 votes was far short of the 218 needed for passage. Democrats contributed 165 votes, meaning more Democrats than Republicans supported a bill that passed the full Republican-controlled House.

See the roll call vote for yourself

There were 71 no votes among Republicans, but none from the Michigan delegation. Tlaib was one of 49 no votes on the Democratic side.

Tlaib, in a statement, explained her vote:

I made a promise to my residents when they sent me to Congress that I would never sell them out. I cannot vote for a bill that guts key environmental protections and greenlights dirty fossil fuel projects for corporate polluters who are poisoning our communities, pushes our residents deeper into poverty by implementing cruel and ineffective work requirements for our low-income neighbors who rely on SNAP and (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) for food and housing, terminates the student loan payment pause, and slashes IRS funding to make it easier for the rich to cheat on their taxes.  ....

We cannot continue to capitulate to a far-right Republican Party and their extreme demands while they inflict policy violence on working class people, gut our bedrock environmental protections, and decimate our planet.

The Mackinac Center has sued the U.S. Department of Education in federal court over the pause.

The bill would need to pass in identical forms in the House and Senate and be signed by Biden to become law.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

Washington Watch

Biden: If Congress ends student loan pause, I’ll veto

Some 87% of Americans never took out student loans, committee report finds

The White House says that if Congress passes House Joint Resolution 45, which would terminate President Joe Biden’s student loan pause and prevent a similar rule from being issued, Biden will veto it.

Last week, the U.S. House approved the bill 218-203, with 14 lawmakers not voting.

Read it for yourself: House Joint Resolution 45 of 2023

Congress.gov reports that the bill was received in the Senate Tuesday. USA Today reported Wednesday that it will get a full Senate vote. Republicans control the House and Democrats control the Senate.

But even if the bill passes in identical forms in both houses and heads to Biden’s desk, the president has vowed a veto.

“This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief,” reads a statement from the White House. It goes on to say the resolution “would weaken America’s middle class.”

The House Education Committee disagrees, noting that 87% of Americans never took out student loans.

Per the conclusion of the majority report:

President Biden’s student loan scam is illegal, unfair, and immoral. There is no such thing as debt ‘forgiveness.’ President Biden is simply transferring the debt from borrowers who willingly took out student loans to hardworking taxpayers who did not. This is no insignificant portion of the population: in fact, eighty-seven percent of Americans did not take out loans. This number includes those who did not go to college, who worked to avoid loans, or who had the grit to pay their loans back. In total, the President’s illegal student loan schemes could cost taxpayers nearly $1 trillion dollars...

The Mackinac Center has sued the U.S. Department of Education over the student loan pause.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.