The Sconi

House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith is accusing President Joe Biden of continuing “to pursue a permanent pandemic narrative at a tremendous cost to American taxpayers.”

Smith points to the U.S. Department of Education’s enactment of the Public Service Loan Program (PSLF) as the latest example. According to Reuters, the plan paves the way for the cancellation of student loan debt for at least 40,000 Americans. Thousands of other borrowers with older loans will also receive forgiveness through income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness.

In addition, another 3.6 million borrowers will receive at least three years of additional credit toward IDR forgiveness.

“Today, President Biden added billions more to the taxpayer’s tab by canceling the student loan debts of thousands of borrowers and rewriting repayment contracts for millions more with the swipe of a pen,” Smith added in a press release. “This comes soon after the President extended a blanket student loan payment moratorium that is costing taxpayers $4.3 billion every month, and further fueling the inflation fire raging across our country.”

As it is, Fortune reports Biden has already canceled more student loan debt than any other president in history, with the total tab now having swelled to nearly $20 billion over the roughly 15-months he’s been in the White House. That still computes to just over 1% of the total $1.7 trillion in student loan debt currently owed by some 45 million borrowers.

According to EducationData.org, just over $23 billion of the student loan debt belongs to Wisconsin residents with the 727,400 student borrowers residing in Wisconsin representing 12.3% of the state's total residents.

As a candidate, News Nation reports Biden proposed forgiving $10,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower, but since taking office congressional Democrats have called on him to increase the amount to as high as $50,000 per person.

With the Biden Administration having already canceled more than $100 billion in student debt through various regulatory actions and extending the pandemic pause through August, the Wall Street Journal notes that none of the changes have been authorized by Congress.

“Democrats have made it clear that their goal is total forgiveness of all federal student loans – a gross attack on hardworking Americans who would have to foot the bill for a $1.6 trillion bailout to the wealthiest twenty percent of American households – those with graduate degrees, six-figure incomes, and high lifetime earnings,” said Smith, adding that the new waiver will cost taxpayers an estimated $3 billion in added costs.

Earlier this month, the White House announced the extension of the loan repayment pause through the end of August. The pause was originally put in place in January 2021 with a stated goal of giving Americans a chance to financially recover from the ravages of the pandemic. 

"Student loans were never meant to be a life sentence, but it's certainly felt that way for borrowers locked out of debt relief they're eligible for," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in the statement, adding the goal of the programs are to cap the amount lower-income borrowers are required to pay and forgive the remaining balance after a set number of years.