For Weingarten, it “really pisses me off” that the student loan giveaway is being questioned.
President of the National Education Association Randi Weingarten went into a screaming fit on Tuesday during a speech in front of the Supreme Court because she likened President Biden’s student loan handout to the COVID-19 small business loans of 2020.
While the Supreme Court heard two challenges to Vice President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive $10,000 in federal student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 per year or households making less than $250,000 in 2020 or 2021, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten spoke at a rally hosted by the Student Debt Crisis Center in Washington, D.C.
According to estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, this plan will set Americans back around $400 billion over the next three years. Students who receive a Pell Grant will have an additional $10,000 in loans forgiven.
Weingarten made the analogy between the current crisis and the 2009 pandemic when Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that included the Paycheck Protection Program and forgivable loans to small businesses.
It is crucial, she said, that students from low-income families have the opportunity to pursue a college education. Vice President Joe Biden has promised to address this issue as a result of recent events. The Education Secretary also has the power to take action.
She continued by saying this was her biggest pet peeve. “As soon as we realized that small businesses were suffering during the pandemic, we did what we could to help them. Big businesses relied on us when they were in trouble, and no one bothered to appeal our decision to the Supreme Court.”
“All of a sudden, when it’s about our students, they challenge it, the corporations challenge it, the student loan lenders challenge it,” she continued, screaming and jumping up and down. “Cancelling student loans is an important part of our fight against the unfair system we live under. There’s a lot at stake, including the lives of the people and the course of human history.”
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases that challenge the Department of Education’s rule implementing Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt.
Joe Biden, the Vice President, has stated his belief that, under the Higher Education Opportunity for Students Act, he has the authority to forgive or reduce student loan payments for service members serving in Afghanistan and Iraq (HEROES Act).