House Votes to Overturn Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program

President Joe Biden arrives for a bilateral meeting with Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 18, 2023. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool/Getty Images)

The House voted to pass the Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s student loan transfer program by a vote of 218 to 203 on May 24. The resolution passed with two Democrats joining 216 Republicans in favor of the measure.

The one-time student loan forgiveness program by the Biden administration faced a challenge from House Republicans who believed it was an irresponsible fiscal policy.

The resolution, H.J. Res. 45, is an official disapproval by Congress of the administration’s “Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans,” which would be the fulfillment of President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to offer student loan debt relief.

“President Biden’s student loan transfer scheme shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of payments from student loan borrowers onto the backs of the American people,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the resolution’s sponsor, said in a press release sent to The Epoch Times.

“I am proud to lead the fight against President Biden’s reckless, unilateral, and unauthorized action that would unfairly penalize those who worked hard to pay off their loans or who never took them out in the first place. I am pleased that my Republican colleagues overwhelmingly supported my legislation on the House Floor.”

The vote came while the administration is still awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on whether the proposal can be implemented. Lawmakers voted on the resolution to halt the forgiveness program and terminate the pandemic-related suspension of federal student loan payments.

The White House announced just days ago that if the measure made it to the president’s desk, he would veto it, supporting his own loan forgiveness program.

In a Statement of Administration Policy released on May 22, the White House expressed its disapproval of H.J. Res. 45.

If Congress were to pass H.J. Res. 45, the President would veto it,“ the White House statement said. The administration asserts that the measure would ”weaken America’s middle class.”

In the policy statement, the administration outlined its justification for the student loan forgiveness program, saying: “Nearly 90 percent of the relief provided by the Department of Education would go to Americans earning less than $75,000 per year, and no relief would go to any individual or household in the top 5 percent of incomes.”

Good told The Epoch Times in response to the news that the administration planned to veto the resolution, “Given his fiscal track record, it is no surprise that President Biden would oppose any action to undo his unlawful and unfair executive actions to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars worth of burdensome student loans onto the backs of American taxpayers.”

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a letter (pdf) in September 2022, detailing the estimated budgetary effects of the student loan forgiveness program, saying they estimate the total cost of cancellation at about $400 billion over the 2023-2033 period on a net-present-value basis.

The Congressional Budget Office conducted a cost estimate (pdf) for the impact of H.J. Res. 45, saying it would “reduce direct spending, on a net-present-value basis, by $319.6 billion in 2023, and by $315.6 billion over the 2023-2033 period.”

The White House responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment, referring to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s comments to reporters when she said Republicans’ plan to block the debt relief demonstrated the right’s values.