Mahmoud Bennett Social Media Producer

White House goes after critics of student debt relief who had PPP loans forgiven

Aug 26, 2022

Mahmoud Bennett Social Media Producer

By Mahmoud Bennett (Social Media Producer), Chris Field (Senior Editor)

The White House fired back at Republican lawmakers who have vocally opposed President Joe Biden’s recently announced student loan forgiveness program. The president announced his unilateral plan this week for up to $20,000 per person in student loan debt forgiveness.

GOP members of Congress have been highly critical of the president’s plan, calling it unfair and inappropriate. In response, the Biden administration began tweeting out what it is framing a hypocrisy on the part of its critics. The posts quote-retweeted a Republican’s criticism of the loan forgiveness plan and then reported how much that lawmaker had received in forgiven Paycheck Protection Progam loans.

The PPP loans were created by Congress to buoy businesses during government-mandated shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one retweet, the White House cited Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s claim that the student loan cancellation is “completely unfair” and then shared that the congresswoman “had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven.”

Another White House posting went after Florida GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, who tweeted, “Biden’s reckless, unilateral student loan giveaway is unfair to the 87 percent of Americans without student loan debt and those who played by the rules.” So Biden administration tweeted that Buchanan “had over $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven.”

Other targets of the White House included Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz, Fla., Mike Kelly, Pa., Kevin Hern, Okla., and Markwayne Mullin, Okla.

Mullin, a business owner like the other subjects of the White House’s tweets, responded to a post targeting him: “Another ignorant attack from a career politician who has never created a single job. 74 days before midterms, Joe Biden is targeting business owners for protecting their employees from government lockdowns. President Trump always supported American workers and job creators.”

The president’s supporters celebrated the administration’s tweet thread against its adversaries, calling them hypocrites for getting their PPP loans forgiven while opposing student loan cancellation.

Critics of the administration noted that, unlike student loans, PPS loans were created to be forgiven if certain conditions were met and that PPP forgiveness was created by Congress and were not a product of a president’s unilateral decision. Others noted that the PPP government loans were designed to help businesses that had been hurt by the government’s forced closures.

MAHMOUD BENNETT: MANY REPUBLICANS ARE UNHAPPY OVER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATIONS MOVE TO FORGIVE THE STUDENT LOANS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS – ARGUING MONEY CAN’T JUST DISAPPEAR

BUT THE WHITE HOUSE IS NOW TAKING A JAB – SHARING A THREAD OF REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS WHO PREVIOUSLY ACCEPTED LOANS – PART OF WHICH WERE SUBSEQUENTLY *FORGIVEN BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT*

CONGRESSWOMAN MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, CONGRESSMAN MATT GAETZ AND CONGRESSMAN MIKE KELLY WERE AMONG SEVERAL ACCOUNTS THE OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE TWITTER ACCOUNT RETWEETED ALONGSIDE THESE FIGURES

DATA SHOWS EACH OF THEM WERE BENEFICIARIES OF LOANS THROUGH THE PAYMENT PROTECTION PLAN. INTENDED TO KEEP BUSINESS RUNNING DURING THE PANDEMIC.

THOSE NUMBERS ON SCREEN ARE THE PORTIONS OF THEIR DEBTS THAT WERE WIPED AWAY.

IT’S LOAN FORGIVENESS WITH ONE KEY DIFFERENCE: PPP LOANS WERE AUTHORIZED AT THE START OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC BY CONGRESS WITH THE INTENTION OF BEING FORGIVEN – PROVIDED BORROWERS MET CERTAIN QUALIFICATIONS. BIDEN’S DECISION ON FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS WAS ESSENTIALLY UNILATERAL

SUPPORTERS OF BIDEN’S MOVE WERE QUICK TO STAND BEHIND THE WHITEHOUSE POINTING OUT PRECEDENT FOR LOAN FORGIVENESS – WHILE OTHERS ARGUE FORCED GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS MADE IT DIFFERENT BACK THEN