Fmr. Pence Aide: Forgiving Student Loan Debt is an ‘Asinine Policy’ Decision
© AP Photo / Andrew Harnik
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It was reported last week that US President Joe Biden was considering canceling $10,000 in student loan debt for most borrowers via Executive Order. Of the proposals said to be floating around the White House, one particular option excludes high earners from any possible student-loan relief.
Canceling student loan debt would simply subsidize wealthy individuals, rather than assist those “who never had the opportunity to go to college,” argued Marc Short, a former chief of staff under former Vice President Mike Pence.
“This is an incredibly asinine policy,” Short said during a “Fox News Sunday” roundtable. “The reality is today, 56 percent of all student loan debt is owned by people with graduate degrees.”
Short’s assertion appears to reference Federal Reserve data from 2019, which reported that 56% of outstanding education-related debt was held by household with graduate degrees. This was an increase.
However, graduate degrees are not always reflective of a certain salary.
The Brookings Institution reported that the top 40% of income earners–those bringing home more than $74,000 a year, accounted for 60% of the outstanding debt, while the lowest 40% of earners accounted for 20% of the outstanding debt.
He went on to brand such a move as “regressive.”
“So what the Biden administration is going to say for the people is–for blue-collar workers across our country, who never had the opportunity to go to college–‘We’re going to take your taxpayer dollars and subsidize lawyers, bankers, and people with graduate degrees, doctors across our country,’” he said of Biden’s reported plan.
Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro also dubbed the practice as “asinine” during a late April broadcast.
Calling student loan forgiveness "asinine" and an "insult," Judge Jeanine says: "Let them work and pay off their bills. Just the way all of us do!"
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 27, 2022
Pirro completely stiffed her campaign vendors and creditors out of nearly $600,000.https://t.co/KptjP4Bavp pic.twitter.com/5moBJIBRE3
“This asinine ‘I wanna pay off student debt’ is an insult to the senior citizens, to the people who pay taxes, to people who decide, you know, ‘Do I wanna buy meat this week or pay for my medicine?’ That’s hogwash,” she said during a recent episode of “The Five.”
