Debt ceiling deal would terminate student loan pause

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.