McConnell hails decision on Biden’s ‘student loan socialism plan’

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was instrumental in shaping the conservative-leaning composition of the Supreme Court, on Friday hailed the court’s decision rejecting President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan as a major victory. 

“The American people know that the Biden Administration’s student loan socialism plan would be a raw deal for hardworking taxpayers. Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the Administration’s position in Biden v. Nebraska, they can know that it’s illegal,” McConnell said in a statement.  

“The president of the United States cannot hijack twenty-year-old emergency powers to pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families who choose not to take on student debt. The Court’s decision today deals a heavy blow to Democrats’ distorted and outsized view of executive power,” he said. 

The court struck down Biden’s plan to cancel some student debt for millions of people in a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.  

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a concurring opinion supporting the decision. Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas also backed it.  

McConnell played a key role in shaping today’s court by keeping the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia vacant for a year during the end of then-President Barack Obama’s second term in office, giving former President Donald Trump a chance to appoint Gorsuch to the bench in 2017.  

McConnell also sped the confirmation of Barrett through the Senate shortly before the 2020 election, while Trump was still in office. She replaced late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the court’s ruling “disappointing and cruel.” 

“The hypocrisy is clear: as justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests,” he said.  

He said he would call upon the Biden administration “to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt.” 

Biden on Friday said he will announce new policies to help student loan borrowers in the wake of the court’s decision.  

“I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American,” he said.