March 17 (UPI) — Senate Republicans said Friday they will introduce a resolution to overturn President Joe Biden‘s student loan forgiveness plan.
Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas, and Joni Ernst of Iowa said they will introduce a resolution under Congressional Budget Office to overturn the plan. The CRA allows Congress to overturn government agency rules by a majority vote.
“President Biden’s student loan scheme does not ‘forgive’ debt, it just transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans to those who never went to college, or sacrificed to pay their loans off,” Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement, according to Roll Call.
A spokesman for the Department of Education told Roll Call that it was regrettable that the GOP is determined to fight the debt-relief plan.
“It’s a shame for working families across the country that Republican lawmakers continue to fight tooth and nail to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents impacted by the pandemic,” a spokesman for the department said.
A report from the Government Accountability Office said Biden’s student loan plan was subject to the CRA.
The White House disputed that ruling, saying that Biden’s decision is based on decades-old authority.
“This longtime statutory authority has never been subject to the Congressional Review Act. GAO’s decision is at odds with clear longstanding practice, and the department remains fully confident that its debt-relief plan complies with the law,” a White House spokesperson said, according to the Hill.
The majority-conservative Supreme Court seemed highly skeptical of the legality of the plan during oral arguments last month, and many experts expect the court to rule that the plan is unconstitutional.