Student loan borrowers who are upset with the U.S. Supreme Court for nixing the Biden administration’s plan to forgive a hunk of their debt are mad at the wrong institution.
Their ire should be directed at the White House, which gave them the false hope their financial obligations would disappear by order of the president.
Biden was told differently, including by some prominent Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They knew it would take an act of Congress for such a massive write-off of federal government assets to be legal. Biden, a former longtime member of the Senate, himself at times doubted how far his power as president extended in dealing with student loans.
Despite those reservations, his administration plunged forward, approving 16 million borrowers — about a third of the estimated total — for loan forgiveness before being stopped by federal lawsuits.
Even now, the president says he’s not done trying to find an end-around the high court and Congress. For those borrowers who want to believe that’s possible, there’s a saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
