President Joe Biden slammed Republicans who are against his student debt “relief” on Twitter late Tuesday, saying, “Who in the hell do they think they are” to oppose him and say the money benefits the “elite.”
Nearly half of the country’s governors wrote a letter to Biden in September requesting a withdrawal of the student debt “relief,” which, if it doesn’t get blocked by legal proceedings, will give up to $20,000 to some borrowers.
The governors noted in the letter that the “relief” is expected to cost American taxpayers “more than $2,000 each or $600 billion total,” and said that is “a price the people of our states cannot afford.” The Congressional Budget Office estimated in a report that the student debt “relief” will cost roughly $400 billion.
Biden blasted the letter in a Tuesday tweet, calling out the governors for claiming the “relief” will benefit the “elite few.”
Republican governors wrote me a letter saying student debt relief only helps the “elite few.”
Ted Cruz, the great senator from Texas, said it’s for slackers who don’t deserve relief.
Who in the hell do they think they are?
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 26, 2022
The president also specifically called out Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz for saying the thousands of dollars of relief will benefit “slacker baristas.”
“If you are that slacker barista who wasted seven years in college studying completely useless things, now has loans and can’t get a job, Joe Biden just gave you 20 grand,” Cruz said in August.
Whether borrowers will receive any student debt “relief” is currently in limbo, as a federal court ordered an administrative stay on the program. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals made the stay in response to a lawsuit from Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina, which argues the program is unconstitutional. (RELATED: Federal Court Temporarily Stops Biden From Canceling Student Loan Debt)
The White House administration has stressed the stay does not block borrowers from applying for aid, but that aid dispersal will have to wait until the legal proceeding is over.
Fox News’ White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the constitutionality of the program Tuesday, asking if it’s “fair” for Biden to say COVID-19 is no longer a “national emergency,” but to use that argument under the HEROES Act to justify student loan cancellation.
Jean-Pierre responded to Heinrich’s line of questioning by saying, “So, here’s the thing: We cannot forget that COVID is still a problem.”