Student loans gambit is the latest example of Biden's selective COVID-19 emergency
By Haisten Willis, White House Reporter
August 26, 2022 07:00 AM
The Biden administration cited the COVID-19 pandemic as justification for its $300 billion student loan-shifting program, continuing a pattern of mentioning the virus in some situations and ignoring it in others.
Biden's Education Department said the Higher Education Relief Opportunity for Students, or HEROES, Act of 2003 gives it the power to waive student loans due to a national emergency, that emergency being COVID-19, and Biden was careful to reference the pandemic in his remarks about the program.
"These targeted actions are for families who need it the most — working- and middle-class people hit especially hard during the pandemic making under $125,000 a year," he said.
But at other times during his remarks, Biden spoke about the pandemic in the past tense, saying, "We responded aggressively to the pandemic to minimize the economic impact of the harm that COVID imposed on individuals, families, and businesses," and later, "We’ve wound down pandemic relief programs like the ones for unemployment insurance and small businesses. It’s time we do the same thing for student loans."
Some analysts have said the administration's legal justification is weak and could be struck down by the courts if anyone can establish standing to sue.
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