Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was the first Republican the White House attacked after she said the student loan forgiveness was unfair.
The White House attacked Republicans on Thursday for criticizing Biden's recent announcement for student debt relief on the grounds that many of the GOP were small business owners who had business loans forgiven under the Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid pandemic.
Using the official White House Twitter account, the Biden administration first went after Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. After she appeared on Newsmax to say that the student loan forgiveness was "unfair" to "hard working people" the White House tweeted "Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven." The PPP loans were designed to be forgiven if certain terms were met.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven.https://t.co/4FoCymt8TB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse)
Starting on March 15, 2020 the federal government started shutting down the US economy as strict lockdown measures were implemented nationwide to address the burgeoning Covid pandemic. The impact on businesses small and large was unprecedented and on April 3, 2020 Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which allowed businesses with fewer than 500 employees to receive loans to cover payroll and other expenses.
PPP loans were designed by the government to correct a real time crisis in the US economy created by the government. Under the Biden presidency many federal guidelines and lockdown measures did not abate until 2022. The breadth and scope of the government's direct intervention into business was the cause of the PPP program.
Following their charge on MTG the White House proceeded to post critical tweets and PPP loan forgiveness amounts for Congressmen and job creators Vern Buchanan, Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Mike Kelly, and Matt Gaetz.
The White House did not directly respond to the merit of Representative Kelly's tweet which read, "Asking plumbers and carpenters to pay off the loans of Wall Street advisors and lawyers isn’t just unfair. It’s also bad policy."
Asking plumbers and carpenters to pay off the loans of Wall Street advisors and lawyers isn’t just unfair. It’s also bad policy.https://t.co/iiynuVDRsD
— Rep. Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyPA)
Nor did they address Representative Hern's comment, "To recap, in the last two weeks, the "Party of the People" has supercharged the IRS to go after working-class Americans, raised their taxes, and forced them to pay for other people's college degrees."
To recap, in the last two weeks, the "Party of the People" has supercharged the IRS to go after working-class Americans, raised their taxes, and forced them to pay for other people's college degrees.
— Rep. Kevin Hern (@repkevinhern)
"We do not need farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and teachers in Oklahoma paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S. This places undue burden on those already suffering due to the weight of Biden’s failed economic policy," read Representative Mullin's tweet.
We do not need farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and teachers in Oklahoma paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S.
This places undue burden on those already suffering due to the weight of Biden’s failed economic policy. https://t.co/kmYEP8KUuF
— Markwayne Mullin (@RepMullin)
NBC reported on the onslaught, saying: "The White House hit back at Republicans." The NBC piece claimed, "The requirements for federal student loan forgiveness have been much more stringent over the years" than PPP loan forgiveness, drawing an equivalence between the two unrelated systems of debt forgiveness and economic correlation. The terms of each kind of loan are drastically different, and intended to solve completely separate problems.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced that he was canceling up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers and was extending the payment pause on federal loans until the end of the year. Under his plan, borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 for married couples that file taxes jointly, are eligible for the cancellation.
In addition, those that received Pell Grants would qualify to receive an additional $10,000 in cancellation debt, coming to a total of $20,000.
Fox Business reports that according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Biden's student debt forgiveness will cost taxpayers roughly $500 billion while college's do not face direct financial consequence.
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