Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Education Relating to ``Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans''

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because my colleagues across the aisle are once again seeking to put politics over people and inflict undue economic harm, this time by denying much-needed student loan debt relief.

President Biden's targeted student loan debt relief plan is designed to help low- and middle-income borrowers, with 90 percent of the relief going to those earning less than $75,000 per year.

In my home State of South Carolina, over 680,000 borrowers are eligible, of which over 67 percent are Pell grant recipients. Over 48,000 borrowers in my district alone have been fully approved for relief.

If enacted, H.J. Res. 45 will rescind life-changing relief for hardworking borrowers, renege on the payment pause by forcing them to pay several months of installments with interest, and claw back earned credit from public servants toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. For many, this will mean thousands of dollars in payments with little to no notice. Cruelty seems to be the point.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden's student loan debt relief plan will help alleviate the yoke of student loan debt for millions of Americans. Challenges to the program, both in court and posed by those in Congress, are meritless.

Higher education shouldn't be a luxury for a privileged few. Borrowers deserve our help, and I urge my colleagues to vote down this resolution.

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