Education Secretary Rips Loan-Forgiven Republicans After College Debt Ruling

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona knocked Republican lawmakers for accepting “millions of dollars” for their businesses through COVID-era loans after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program on Friday.

Cardona, who criticized the Supreme Court for ruling “against students and families across the country,” argued that the conservative court substituted itself for Congress before he then went after the GOP.

“It’s outrageous to me that Republicans in Congress and state offices fought so hard against a program that would have helped millions of their own constituents,” Cardona said.

“They had no problem handing trillion-dollar tax cuts to big corporations and the super wealthy, and many had no problems accepting millions of dollars in forgiven pandemic loans.”

Cardona called out Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who took out Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the federal government forgive more than $1.4 million of the debt.

“He represents 489,000 eligible borrowers that were turned down today,” Cardona said.

He also took aim at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who saw the federal government forgive more than $180,000 of her PPP loans and who represents 91,800 student borrowers who would have been eligible for debt forgiveness under Biden’s plan, and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who had more than $4.4 million in loans forgiven and who represents 90,000 eligible student borrowers.

Cardona said that he would join Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in continuing to fight for college loan relief for student borrowers.

“You should be able to earn a college education without student debt blocking you from opportunity,” he said.