Political reactions to Supreme Court ruling on student debt cancellation: AOC, McConnell, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott and others

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that Joe Biden does not have the authority to implement his student debt cancellation plan by means of an executive order. The president hastened to ensure the ruling was “unthinkable,” while other political actors expressed themselves along party lines: Republicans in favor and Democrats against.

The highest court in the country voted down the president’s initiative, which would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other loan recipients, on the condition that the individual’s earnings are below $125,000.

“The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not. We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up,” John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion of Biden vs. Nebraska.

Political reactions

One of the first to react was Alexandria Ocasio Cortéz (AOC), who did not hesitate to call out the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, particularly of one of its members. “Justice Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars in lavish vacation gifts from a billionaire who lobbied to cancel the student loan forgiveness. After the gifts, Alito voted to overturn. This SCOTUS’ corruption undercuts its own legitimacy by putting its rulings up for sale,” she wrote on her Twitter account.

Someone who did rejoice was Ted Cruz. The Texas senator also expressed his opinion on Twitter. “The Supreme Court once again remained true to the Constitution by blocking Biden’s student debt transfer. This decision by the president wouldn’t have ‘eliminated’ student debt—instead, it would have transferred it to another American who had already paid off their loans, or opted out of attending college. Biden knew this was not legal. This was nothing more than a messaging ploy to give him a cheap political win before midterms,” the Republican said.

Mitch McConnell was another of those celebrating after the court’s ruling. The Senate minority leader described the plan as socialist, illegal and remarked that citizens now know the initiative was illegitimate. “The president of the United States cannot hijack twenty-year-old emergency powers to pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families who choose not to take on student debt,” he added.

Another Senator, Chuck Schumer, was blunt about the decision and described it as “disappointing and cruel.” “The hypocrisy is clear: as justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests,” he said.

Tim Scott paused his presidential campaign to join in the jubilation among Republicans over the court’s ruling. True to his optimistic style, the South Carolina senator was certain: “If you take out a loan, you pay it back.”

“Colleges now need to look in the mirror and be held accountable for how expensive college has become. The closest thing to magic in America is a good education, and if colleges and universities price themselves out of reach for too many Americans, we won’t be able to sustain the American Dream,” he added.

The cost of Biden’s plan to cancel student debt

According to a nonpartisan Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) study, “Federal student loan debt forgiveness for college students would have cost between $300 billion and $980 billion over the 10-year budget period, depending on the details of the program.”

In addition, they found that “about 70% of debt relief accrues to borrowers in the top 60% of the income distribution.”