News Analysis
Overview
On the day before President Biden announced that he is “forgiving” part or all of the student loans of nearly everyone who owes them, his administration released a legal memo declaring that he had the authority to do this under a 2003 law.
That claim is belied by Congressional records recently unearthed by Just Facts. These reveal that Congress voted to pass the law by a margin of more than 500 to 1 because it did not authorize any actions that would cost money.
In contrast, Biden’s decision to cancel student loans and alter their payment terms will cost from $605 billion to more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. That amounts to an average cost of roughly $4,700 to $7,700 for every household in the United States….