Fox News reports that the U.S. House of Representatives this past week passed a resolution to block President Joe Biden from implementing his federal student loan handout.
The resolution, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), was passed by the House on Wednesday, May 24, by a vote of 218 to 203.
All House Republicans and two House Democrats voted for the bill, while the remaining House members voted against it.
The resolution invokes the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to reject a policy put forth by the executive branch - such as Biden's student loan handout.
It was last summer - before the 2022 midterm elections - that Biden announced his student loan handout.
The policy would cancel up to $10,000 in debt for each federal student loan borrower, unless the borrower is a Pell Grant recipient, in which case the policy would cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower. To qualify for debt forgiveness, a borrower only needs to be making less than $125,000 per year if single or less than $250,000 per year if married.
Altogether the policy is estimated to cost the federal government - and thus the taxpayer - upwards of $400 billion.
Biden and his administration rapidly attempted to move forward with the policy, but he was stopped in his tracks by several lawsuits.
Now, the student loan handout is before the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Biden has faced significant criticism for the student loan handout plan - including from some Democrats. The chief criticism stems from the fact that Biden is attempting to move forward with this student loan forgiveness policy using executive action alone. This is the precise reason why the courts have halted Biden's student loan handout.
Republicans, however, have also criticized the plan for other reasons.
Rep. Good, for example, said this after the House passed his resolution:
President Biden’s student loan transfer scheme shifts hundreds of billions of dollars of payments from student loan borrowers onto the backs of the American people. I am pleased that my Republican colleagues overwhelmingly supported my legislation on the House floor today.
For Good's resolution to succeed in canceling Biden's student loan handout, it will need to be approved by the U.S. Senate, which is unlikely because it is controlled by the Democrats.
Accordingly, it appears that the justices of the Supreme Court will have the final say on whether Biden can move forward with this policy. The justices are expected to rule on the legality of the policy at some point this summer.
