Sen. John Thune is joining several Republican colleagues in an effort pushing back against the Biden Administration's new student loan repayment program.
The White House announced this week more than 4 million Americans are enrolled in the Saving on A Valuable Education plan, also known as "SAVE." That includes 10,700 South Dakotans.
The program allows borrowers to repay federal student loans based on how much money they make.
Thune said Tuesday he is cosponsoring a resolutionto overturn the plan. He said it’s unfair to Americans who do not have student debt.
“Instead of creating a real plan to lower the costs of higher education, President Biden continues to propose budget-busting student loan bailouts that would force 87 percent of Americans who do not have student loan debt to bear the costs of the 13 percent of Americans who do,” Thune said. “It’s incredibly unfair to those who never incurred student debt because they didn’t attend college in the first place or because they either worked their way through school or their family pinched pennies and planned for higher education."
Federal student loan repayments have been paused since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that pause is set to expire in October. Biden and Republicans have sparred over efforts to ease student loan repayments once the halt expires. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Biden's plan to forgive all federal student loans.