House fails to overturn Biden veto in effort to cancel student debt relief

by Lexi Lonas - 06/21/23 6:07 PM ET

House Republicans were not able to convince the two-thirds majority they needed to overturn President Biden’s veto of a resolution that would have shot down his proposal to cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower’s student debt.

The 221-206 vote on attempt to overturn Biden’s veto of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to end the president’s debt relief plan is officially dead in the water. Beating Biden’s veto would have required two-thirds support in the House and the Senate — both of which passed the original resolution.

Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office found Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan was subject to the CRA, which lets Congress suspend actions taken by the president.

Republicans jumped on the opportunity, quickly introducing a CRA measure in the House attempting to stop the student debt relief.

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In May, the House passed the resolution 218-203, with the support of all Republicans and two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.).

Shortly after, the Senate passed the resolution 52-46, with Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.), and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), joining Republicans in striking down the plan.

“Let me make something really clear: I’m never going to apologize for helping working and middle-class Americans as they recover from this pandemic, never,” Biden said when he signed the veto on the resolution.

Biden’s student debt relief plan, however, still faces a significant hurdle: the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which may rule on the proposal as early as Thursday.

Tags House Republicans Joe Biden student debt relief student debt relief