Washington, D.C. – House Republican Conference Chair Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN) announced they introduced the Responsible Education Assistance through Loan (REAL) Reforms Act, a bill that offers commonsense and fiscally responsible reforms to benefit students and borrowers in our country’s federal student loan system.
On the bill, the lawmakers said:
“The Biden administration has been engaging in mass student loan forgiveness behind Americans’ backs without the authorization of Congress. In total, to date, the President has already forgiven, waived, or canceled at least $217 billion in student loans through the unlawful abuse of his executive pen. Instead of placing the burden of this broken student loan system on the shoulders of American taxpayers, we are introducing this bill to fix the system.
“Our reforms are fiscally responsible, practical solutions to help students and borrowers. This bill provides targeted relief for borrowers in the greatest need and helps Americans who have been excluded from postsecondary education access high-quality short-term programs. This will allow individuals to gain quickly the skills needed to fill in-demand jobs. It rejects broad student loan forgiveness for those earning six-figure salaries and curtails the Department of Education’s ability to unilaterally forgive debts. This bill also provides long overdue reforms to graduate student lending and eliminates the expensive and regressive runaway loan forgiveness programs. Lastly, this bill would put a stop to usurious student loan practices by placing a cap on excessive interest for existing borrowers harmed by years of Democrat policies, and protects future borrowers from these predatory practices going forward.
“Unlike Democrats’ mass student loan forgiveness scheme, these reforms provide targeted relief to borrowers who need it the most and recognize that not every career path requires a baccalaureate degree.
“The REAL Reforms Act is what responsibility looks like.”
Background: America’s student loan system is broken. This bill addresses critical flaws in that system, so institutions of higher education no longer have an incentive to saddle students with excessive debt for degrees that don’t pay off.
President Biden exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to enact a radical student loan cancelation agenda, which provides enormous windfall to high-income borrowers while failing to assist borrowers in greatest need. As of August 2022, Biden forgave, canceled, or waived over $200 billion in federal student loans—all without Congressional approval. In response to this reckless agenda, Republicans drafted the REAL Reforms Act to:
Target relief for the borrowers most in need
Protect students, borrowers, and taxpayers
Rein in runaway loan forgiveness programs
Limit outrageous borrowing
Expand pathways to the American Dream
To read the bill, click here.
To read a detailed bill summary, click here.
To read a fact sheet of the bill, click here.
Permalink: https://stefanik.house.gov/2022/8/stefanik-foxx-banks-announce-responsible-alternative-to-biden-s-blanket-student-loan-scheme
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