House Republicans on Wednesday failed to undo President Joe Biden’s veto of legislation that would have canceled his plan to forgive student debt.
The vote was 221-206, well short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a presidential veto. Two House Democrats—Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington—joined all Republicans in voting to undo the president’s veto.
The result did not come as a surprise, as Congress had passed the Republican-led resolution earlier in June largely along party lines, with the support of a few moderate Democrats.
Biden, a Democrat, then vetoed the legislation, saying in a statement: “It is a shame for working families across the country that lawmakers continue to pursue this unprecedented attempt to deny critical relief to millions of their own constituents, even as several of these same lawmakers have had tens of thousands of dollars of their own business loans forgiven by the Federal Government.” The White House has been contacted for comment via email.
The president’s plan would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 per year. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven. The White House has said that more than 16 million people had been approved for debt relief before legal challenges put the plan on hold.
Wednesday’s vote means Republican efforts to kill Biden’s plan under the Congressional Review Act are now over.
But millions of Americans are still waiting to see if the Supreme Court will allow the plan to go into effect. That ruling could come as soon as Thursday.
The vetoed legislation would have also ended the pandemic-era freeze on student loan repayment and interest.
Congress passed a law that will end the payment pause as part of a bipartisan agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. Student loan interest is set to resume starting on September 1 and payments will begin starting in October.
“We recognize that the return to repayment would result in significant financial hardship for many borrowers,” an Education Department spokesperson recently told Newsweek.
“That is why this Administration also put forward a plan to provide up to $20,000 in debt relief for hard-working Americans recovering from the economic harms of the pandemic, most of whom make less than $75,000 a year, and why we continue to fight for that relief on behalf of the millions of borrowers who need it.
“We will also be in direct touch with borrowers and ramping up our communications with servicers well before repayment resumes to ensure borrowers and their families are receiving accurate and timely information about the return to repayment.”
The spokesperson added: “In spite of our opponents’ best efforts to sabotage our work to support student borrowers, we are fully committed to helping borrowers successfully navigate the return to repayment with the pandemic now behind us.”
