Give me a break’: Biden compares student debt handout to pandemic paycheck protection scheme
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President Joe Biden compared his plan to forgive millions of student debts to the essential salary protection scheme rolled out at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The president made his remarks in front of 3,000 guests at the Phoenix Awards dinner hosted Saturday by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington DC.
Biden told the audience, “I don’t want to hear a word from those members of Congress, you see, whose families have received tens of thousands of dollars and several million dollars in forgiveness on pandemic aid loans.”
He added: ‘The same who criticize. Give me a break, come on.’
In August, Biden said the US government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of debt-ridden former college students, fulfilling a pledge he made in the 2020 White House campaign.
On Saturday, Biden went on to say, “We can afford to cancel $10,000 in student debt and $20,000 if you had a Pell Grant for Americans earning less than $125,000.”
He also called the handout a “game changer.”
Among those who commented on Biden’s comments was Nathan Brand, the Republican Party’s deputy chief of communications, who said, “Joe Biden doesn’t care about small business.”
President Joe Biden told guests at the Phoenix Awards on Saturday, “We can afford to cancel $10,000 in student debt and $20,000 if you had a Pell Grant for Americans that earned less than $125,000”
In August, Biden said the US government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of debt-ridden former students
Later, Biden targeted the Republican Party for trying to block the Inflation Reduction Act.
He said: ‘Imagine being the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes knowing that if you don’t get that drug, if they don’t get that insulin, if they don’t get it on time, their health could be permanent. damaged or they could die… It’s wrong!’
The former senator promoted the Child Tax Credit: “We’re going to do all this while reducing the deficit. I’m tired of Republicans saying we’re the big spenders, give me a break. Give me a break.’
Just this week, a libertarian group in California filed a legal challenge against Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan on Tuesday, calling it an illegal overdraft that would increase the state’s tax burden on some Americans getting their debt forgiven.
The lawsuit, believed to be the first focused on Biden’s plan, was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento legal advocacy group.
It was filed in federal court in Indiana, one of several states that plan to tax student debt canceled by Biden’s plan.
Any student debt forgiven under Biden’s plan would also be subject to state taxes in Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina and Wisconsin, unless lawmakers in those states change their current laws.
Republicans critical of Biden’s student debt forgiveness and receiving PPP relief are new single Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Brett Guthrie.
Biden and his embattled Vice President Kamala Harris were joint keynote speakers at the 51st annual event.
During their speeches, the couple highlighted their government’s apparent achievements on race relations and issues affecting black communities.
Despite recent troubles, a Gallup poll this week saw his job rating jump to 44 percent.
Both Biden and his embattled Vice President Kamala Harris were joint keynote speakers at the 51st annual event
Legendary singer Gladys Knight was one of the performers at the Phoenix Awards
Illinois Congressman and Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Rush pictured Saturday at the event
US First Lady Jill Biden and US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff listen as US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks
In his opening address, President Biden said, “I know you’re really here to see Gladys Knight. I’m not one of the Pips!’
At the same event, Opel Lee, who took the lead in making Juneteenth a federal holiday, won the Phoenix Award.
Lee told the audience, “Make yourself a committee of one. If we can learn to hate people, we can learn to love people.’
The week leading up to the Phoenix Awards, Congressional Black Caucus Week features more than 100 forums connecting politicians, celebrities, business leaders and citizens as they discuss issues affecting the black community.
The theme of this year’s event was: ‘Advancing our purpose. Raise our power.’
One event this week saw the first screening of Will Smith’s latest film, Emancipation. In the film, Smith plays an enslaved man who, after escaping a brutal beating, flees captivity through the swamps of Louisiana.
While leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, Biden has topped 11 receptions to raise money directly for the Democratic National Committee, and they have brought in more than $19.6 million, according to the committee.
Events ranged from a $300,000 catch at a yacht club in Portland, Oregon, to an 18-person affair (with four others on video screens) at the Hotel Washington near the White House that grossed more than $3 million.
A pair of Southern California townhouse fundraisers at the Summit of the Americas in June raised $5 million in just hours.
Aside from the DNC events, Biden spoke in September at a fundraiser in favor of Michigan administration Gretchen Whitmer, which raised more than $450,000 for the State Democratic Party.