It’s now been around 24 hours since Joe Biden announced that he would be illegally “canceling” — that is, forcing taxpayers to pay for — more than $300 billion worth of student loans, and it is already clear that the move is going to present profound problems for the Democratic Party. As Josh Kraushaar noted earlier today over at Axios:
Democrats running in battleground Senate and House races panned President Biden’s student loan relief plan within hours of its release — a sign of fears that it could alienate swing voters in November.
In particular:
Tim Ryan, the Democrats’ Ohio Senate nominee, released a critical statement: “Waiving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to millions of Ohioans without a degree working just as hard to make ends meet.”
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Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for re-election this year, told Axios: “I don’t agree with today’s executive action because it doesn’t address the root problems that make college unaffordable.”
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New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas, running in a swing district that Biden carried by six points, said in a statement: “This announcement by President Biden is no way to make policy and sidesteps Congress and our oversight and fiscal responsibilities. Any plan to address student debt should go through the legislative process, and it should be more targeted and paid for so it doesn’t add to the deficit.”
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Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, facing a competitive race in a state Biden carried by 13 points, said the relief should have been “more targeted” and the administration should have laid out how they’ll pay for it.
The best case scenario for the Democrats is that the issue becomes a wash because nobody is talking about it. But that will only happen if the Republicans choose to forfeit the issue. They must not. They must hammer it home relentlessly between now and November 8. They must remind voters that it is flatly illegal. They must remind voters that it is arbitrary. They must remind voters that it is unjust. They must remind voters that it is corrupt. Governor DeSantis laid out a good framework at his press conference earlier today:
It’s unfair to force a truck driver to pay a loan for someone who got a PhD in gender studies.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for student loan relief and Biden’s order isn’t constitutional.
If anything, universities handing out worthless degrees should be on the hook. pic.twitter.com/wZuH6GxPII
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 25, 2022
Many within the White House suspected that the idea was disastrous long before Biden issued the order, but their voices didn’t prevail. The GOP must take advantage of that failure.