After clearing a procedural hurdle, the Senate will vote on Thursday afternoon a Republican bill to block President Joe Biden’s Student Debt Relief Program.
The final vote came a day after the senators voted to advance the measure. This would repeal Biden’s debt relief program, and end the administration’s pause in federal student loan repayments. Some moderate Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin from West Virginia, Jon Tester from Montana and independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) voted with Republicans to move the motion forward to the final vote on Wednesday.
The vote will take place around 12:15 pm. The legislation will only need a majority to pass and be sent to Biden. The White House, however, warned last month in a statement of administration policy that Biden was likely to veto this resolution.
The statement stated that “this resolution is an unprecedented effort to undermine our historic economic recovery, and would deny more than 40,000,000 hard-working Americans much-needed relief from student debt.”
The House approved the measure last week by a vote of 218 to 203, largely on party lines. Two Democrats, Jasen Golden of Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez from Washington, joined Republicans in supporting this measure.
The resolution would repeal an administration program that cancelled up to $10,000 of loans to borrowers who fall below certain income levels, and up to $20,000. This also applies to those who receive Pell Grants. The resolution would also remove a pause in loan payments and interest accrual that was imposed during the pandemic.
Biden’s plan to reduce student debt could face its biggest test yet. The conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to rule on two cases involving Biden’s Debt Relief Plan in this month.
The Debt Ceiling Legislation, negotiated by Biden, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), which passed the Houseon Tuesday, and is now heading to the Senate would resume payment on federal student loan that was paused when the pandemic began. If the debt bill becomes law, payments will resume by the end of August. The debt bill would not stop Biden’s plan to forgive debt, despite GOP attempts to include such a provision.
Republicans claim that the Biden Administration’s Student Debt Forgiveness Program burdens taxpayers, and is unfair for those who have paid back loans or did not go to college. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that eliminating the program will reduce the federal deficit in the next decade by approximately 315 billion.
In a statement , the Biden administration argues that debt relief will give borrowers breathing room after the economic crisis and pandemic have passed.
