(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden faced intense scrutiny as reporters scolded him on Friday following the Supreme Court’s striking down his highly-criticized student-loan amnesty plan.
During his remarks in response to the Court’s ruling, a reporter questioned Biden, saying, “Mr. President, why did you give millions of borrowers false hopes? You’ve doubted your own authority here in the past.”
In a petulantly irked response, Biden, who had previously acknowledged his lack of unilateral forgiveness=authority, claimed, “I didn’t give any false hope. The question was whether or not I would do even more than what was requested. What I did, I thought was appropriate and achievable.”
In a defensive manner, Biden added, “I didn’t give false hope. But the Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given, and it’s real, real hope.”
Another reporter asked Biden, “Did you overstep your authority?” In a seemingly confused state, Biden replied, “I think the Court misinterpreted the Constitution,” before swiftly leaving the White House’s Roosevelt Room.
Biden was accompanied by his Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, who, during a White Press press conference, stated, “Today, the Court substituted itself for Congress.”
Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona: "Today, the Court substituted itself for Congress."
Congress explicitly rejected Biden's student loan bailout. pic.twitter.com/9jMp8ePuLb
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 30, 2023
However, it is important to note that Congress had not authorized any student-loan forgiveness.
The Court invalidated Biden’s plan, which aimed to assist approximately 43 million student borrowers by giving them other peoples’ money. The Court’s conservative majority, as reported by the New York Post, ruled that Cardona did not possess the authority to rewrite a law intended to aid veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it,” stated Chief Justice John Roberts in the Court’s majority opinion. “Similarly, the Secretary of Education claims the authority, on his own, to release 43 million borrowers from their obligations to repay $430 billion in student loans. The Secretary has never previously asserted powers of this magnitude.”
The Court’s ruling on the plan also referenced former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own statements, which undermined the dubious claims that the Biden administration enjoyed authority to roll out the plan.
“As then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explained: ‘People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not,’” Roberts said, quoting a Pelosi press conference in July 2021. “‘He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.’”
“People think that the president of the United States has the power for [student loan] debt forgiveness. He does not.” — Nancy Pelosi (July 2021)pic.twitter.com/0iz8uQeKXG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 30, 2023
