via mishtalk:
The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Half-Trillion-Dollar Student-Loan Forgiveness Coup
Well, he did it. Waving his baronial wand, President Biden on Wednesday canceled student debt for some 40 million borrowers on no authority but his own. This is easily the worst domestic decision of his Presidency and makes chumps of Congress and every American who repaid loans or didn’t go to college.
The President who never says no to the left did their bidding again with this act of executive law-making, er, breaking. The government will cancel $10,000 for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for those who received Pell grants. The Administration estimates that about 27 million will be eligible for up to $20,000 in forgiveness, and some 20 million will see their balances erased.
But there’s much more. Mr. Biden is also extending loan forbearance for another four months even as unemployment among college grads is at a near record low 2%. Congress’s Cares Act deferred payments and waived interest through September 2020, but Donald Trump and Joe Biden have extended the pause for what will now be nearly three years.
Most of the rest will only make de minimis payments because Mr. Biden is also sweetening the income-based repayment plans that Barack Obama expanded by fiat. Borrowers currently pay only up to 10% of discretionary income each month and can discharge their remaining debt after 20 years (10 if they work in “public service”).
The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that canceling $10,000 for borrowers earning up to $125,000 will cost about $300 billion. The Pell grant addition could increase this by as much as $270 billion. The four-month freeze on payments will cost $20 billion on top of the roughly $115 billion it already has.
Totaling the Cost
- $300 billion for base plan
- $270 billion for Pell extension
- $135 billion for freeze
- $??? billion for de minimus payments across the board
That totals to $705 billion and is at least somewhat higher.
Under What Authority
I asked a red-state attorney friend of mine, someone who has argued cases before the Supreme Court for his take. Here goes.
Over the past 20 years, Congress has delegated more and more authority to the executive branch and the judicial branch. This allows members of Congress to run for reelection without having taken any damn positions.
I doubt that he is doing this without a legal rationale. It’s likely to be a very poor legal argument, but I’m certain he has some sort of argument to present.
As for a challenge, standing is difficult. You can’t sue the government if you’re only stake in an action is that you are a taxpayer. And right now, I don’t know who else is hurt by this.
h/t ReviewEquivalent1266