Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly has $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven | Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Right-wing reactions to President Biden’s student loan debt cancellation announcement caused quite a stir on social media. GOP plans to tie student loan forgiveness to wealthy and elite college students looked set to fail, as some who complained about the $10,000 to $20,000 debt relief plan had bills pulled for their hypocrisy.
Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on Newsmax on Wednesday, saying that “for our government to say, ‘well, your debt is completely forgiven’…it’s completely unfair. And taxpayers across the country…shouldn’t have to pay massive student loan debt for a college student who racked up massive debt by going to an Ivy League school.”
The White House Twitter account, in turn, tweeted about $183,504 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that Rep. Greene had been pardoned by the federal government.
PPP loans were provided to small business owners to keep their workforce employed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Borrowers were also eligible for full loan forgiveness.
The White House continued to share more examples of student loan forgiveness critics who had PPP loans forgiven, including Congressmen Kevin Hern, Mike Kelly and Matt Gaetz.
People on social media took notice, commenting on the blatant hypocrisy.
But other advocates are pulling the opposite, pulling four uno cards in the president’s administration. If millionaires could get hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP loans canceled by the federal government so quickly, why can’t the average worker get similar relief?
For some advocates, the president’s plan may go further, and his actions proved he has the executive authority to relieve students of their debt.
As Debt Collective noted in a statement provided to ESSENCE:
The move proves that Biden has the authority to cancel all federal student debt — and he’s choosing not to use it. Instead, it has chosen to leave large numbers of borrowers buried in unpayable debt. What we need is full repeal AND free public university for all, which is the only way to solve the student debt crisis. The more student debt President Biden cancels, the more we close the racial wealth gap, boost the economy, and put families on the path to financial freedom.
