Biden student loan handout to curry favor with young voters in advance of midterms, GOP activists say
Federal budget group said debt plan 'would boost near-term inflation far more than the IRA will lower it'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Joe Biden is introducing a $300 billion student debt handout Wednesday, a move that strategists are calling "irresponsible" and a political ploy to "bolster the Democrats’ chances in November."
The White House announced that Biden plans to cancel $10,000 in loans for those making under $125,000 a year. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that "Forgiving federal college student loan debt will cost between $300 billion and $980 billion over the 10-year budget window," in the midst of the economic recession.
According to the U.S. Treasury of Fiscal Data, as of Monday the national debt stands at $30.7 trillion. In January, months before Biden signed several spending packages into law, the national debt was at about $23 trillion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital reached out to strategists and college political groups to ask if they believe the $300 billion student loan relief action is targeted towards young voters to help improve their standing with Democrats and boost turnout with the midterms just a couple of months away.
JOE BIDEN EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE $10,000 STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM WEDNESDAY: REPORT
President Joe Biden is expected to announce the bill Wednesday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Maya MacGuiness, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), said in a statement to Fox News Digital that executive action was irresponsible.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"While I know the motivation, I can certainly say it’s an irresponsible policy that is going to end up costing young people a tremendous amount from all this borrowing," MacGuiness said.
CRFB wrote in an analysis on the idea of student debt relief that "These policies would consume nearly ten years of deficit reduction from the Inflation Reduction Act," and also mentioned that "debt cancellation would boost near-term inflation far more than the IRA will lower it."
AMERICANS ALREADY REACTING TO BIDEN'S REORTED STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT PLAN: ‘HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The report is suggesting that any efforts to lower inflation, promised from Democrats in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, would be counteracted by the new debt relief action. Several reports claimed the IRA would actually raise, not lower, taxes on Americans, but Democrats disputed that claim.
Inflation hit a 40-year-high of 9.1% in June. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
Isabel Brown, a Turning Point USA contributor, college graduate and generation Z voter told Fox News, "Progressives are looking at the polls and realize they no longer hold a monopoly on young voters in America. Generation Z represents the largest drop in support for this current administration. Forgiving student loans is a transparent, last-ditch attempt to buy back the votes of a group that has grown cynical and disenchanted with the left."
With just over two months until the midterm elections, Democrats are seemingly trying to appeal to younger, college aged voters with the alluring idea of student debt relief, a move that would actually increase taxes on Americans, according to political strategists on the right.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Some have speculated that the bill would benefit wealthy Americans, while targeting working-class citizens. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Political strategist Giancarlo Sopo told Fox News Digital that Biden's unpopularity with young voters is likely a big motivation for the administration's student debt cancellation plan.
"When you couple the historical turnout data with polls showing Biden is unpopular among voters under 30, and the fact that this same cohort is twice as likely as any other to owe student loan debt, you can see why The White House thinks this move will bolster the Democrats’ chances in November," Sopo said. "That said, it’s bad public policy, most Americans hold no student loan debt, and Republicans should call it what it is: a bail-out of elites while working-class Americans see their bills skyrocketing."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also spoke on the plan, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday, "It's not fair to the welders, the carpenters, the hairdressers, the people who chose to not go to college or who couldn't afford to stay in college. It's not fair for them. It's also not fair for the people who have paid off their student loans because they have made personal financial sacrifices to allow them to do that."
Many Republicans have speculated that the move could play in the Democrats' favor, as any increase in taxes as a result of the plan would not be seen by the American taxpayer until after the midterm elections in November.