The White House on Thursday called out Republican lawmakers who took Payroll Protection Program loans but rail against student debt cancelation, CBS News reports.
Republicans have roundly trashed Biden’s plan, which will provide up to $10,000 in debt cancelation for borrowers earning up to $125,000 and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients while reforming rules around income-based repayment.
"For our government just to say, 'OK, well your debt is completely forgiven'...it's completely unfair," Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene complained in a clip shared by the White House.
Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan likewise called the plan “unfair.”
Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin complained that workers would be "paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S."
White House fires back:
The White House hit out at the Republicans’ complaints in a Twitter thread.
The White House called out Greene for taking over $183,000 in PPP loans that were forgiven.
Buchanan had $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven and Mullin had over $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven, the White House pointed out, taking aim at other Republican critics as well.
Rubio pushes back:
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took issue with the White House comparing PPP loans to student debt.
“President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan could not be more different, despite his lame attempts to draw similarities between the two,” he said in a statement. “Let’s start with the obvious: federal student loans were just that, loans. The whole idea was that students would take the loans to pay for an education that would lead to a job that repays them (along with the massive interest accumulated).”
“This is a handout that primarily benefits the highly educated and already well-off, the laptop liberals and Marxist misfit activists who have never run a business, made payroll, or worried about something other than what pronouns to use,” he added.
