House GOP Bill Aids Those ‘Distressed’ by Student Debt

House Republicans are taking action against what they called President Joe “Biden’s student loan scam,” introducing a bill to protect taxpayers and offer repayment assistance to borrowers in financial distress.

The Federal Assistance to Initiate Repayment (FAIR) Act “takes a critical step toward addressing the failures of the student loan program by providing a fair, responsible path back to repayment for 40 million borrowers,” according to lawmakers.

“The FAIR Act is a fiscally responsible, targeted response to the chaos caused by Biden’s student loan scam,” Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens, R-Utah; Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich.; and House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., wrote in a statement announcing the bill.

“This Republican solution takes important steps to fix the broken student loan system, provide borrowers with clear guidance on repayment, and protect taxpayers from the economic fallout caused by the administration’s radical free college agenda.”

Biden promised to push forward to deliver free college tuition and, failing to deliver that, he used the guise of COVID-19 to push forward plans for student loan debt forgiveness that was challenged in the courts all the way to a coming Supreme Court decision.

“As the rest of the country was reeling from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden saw an opportunity to ram through his free college agenda,” the lawmakers wrote in a statement. “With extension after extension, the Biden administration turned a short-term payment pause on student loans during the height of the pandemic into a three-year-long pause that cost American taxpayers billions to prop up.

“The president’s radical guidance and reckless executive orders have left schools, servicers, and students uncertain about the future. The pandemic is over, and borrowers need concrete guidance on a pathway forward to repayment.”

Among the details of the FAIR Act, according to the release, are that it:

• Provides targeted student loan relief to those who made years of payments but saw their debt explode “due to Democrats’ poorly designed repayment policies.”
• Allows defaulted borrowers to get back on track to repayment by giving them a second chance to rehabilitate their loans and enroll in an affordable repayment plan.
• Ends the “Biden administration’s student loan scam” and prevents the Education Department from issuing costly and expansive regulations, including the “president’s radical” income-driven repayment proposal costing $276 billion over the next decade.
• Ensures a smooth transition back into repayment by offering repayment assistance to borrowers in financial distress and requiring the Education Department and the Office of Federal Student Aid to provide ample guidance to servicers.