United States President Joe Biden was met with criticism after he falsely claimed that his student loan forgiveness program passed Congress by "a vote or two."
The Democrat made his claims during a town hall sponsored by NowThis News on Sunday where he botched a comment about his debt relief plan. The student loan forgiveness program was executed through executive action and was not passed through Congress.
Joe Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness
In his statement, Biden said that he just signed a law that was being challenged by his Republican colleagues, who he argued were the same people who got PPP loans. He also reiterated his program, which would allow up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for all other college graduates.
The president then continued to say that the program had passed Congress by a vote or two and was already in effect. Critics on social media, however, including a number of journalists, quickly slammed Biden's comment, with some wondering why fact-checkers were not immediately weighing in on the president's false claims, as per Fox News.
Columnist Eddie Zipperer said that Biden's claims that the student loan forgiveness program executive order was now a law passed by Congress are a lie. He noted that if Biden thinks his claim is true, he had no idea what was happening around him.
Separately, columnist Megan McArdle made a similar comment to Biden's remarks, saying that the president was either intentionally misrepresenting his student loan payout plan in "Trumpian fashion."
According to Yahoo News, Biden's remarks come as the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked his student loan forgiveness program last Friday. The ruling was made in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of Republican-led states.
Student Loan Forgiveness Application
The plaintiffs in the case argued that nothing about canceling student loans is lawful or appropriate, arguing that the Biden administration threatens to enact a profound and transformational policy that will cause unprecedented economic impacts.
The student loan forgiveness program is seen by many people as an undisguised ploy to gain support from young, university-educated, adults, which is a core Democratic Party cohort, ahead of the midterm elections later this year. It also comes amid a time of decades-high inflation rates spurred by federal spending.
Since the announcement of Biden's debt relief program, his administration has responded to legal challenges by narrowing the definition of eligible applicants. The changes have already dropped nearly a million claimants.
The interview with the Democratic president was with a handful of young adults as he sought to reach out to young voters to shore up support for the coming elections. The forum discussion also included segments on gun reform, climate change, abortion access, and transgenderism.
The lawsuit against Biden's program came as U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey in St. Louis ruled earlier this month that while the Republican-led states raised "important and significant challenges to the debt relief plan," they were ultimately unable to have a sufficient legal standing to pursue the case, CNBC reported.
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