- Piers Morgan asking Chris Christie regular serious journalism questions
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When the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program last month, it seemed like the end of the line. But the Biden administration promised to attack the problem using any means available, and they’ve started to make good on that promise.
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The Department of Education announced on Friday that it will cancel $39 billion in federal student loans for more than 804,000 borrowers. Now we’re talkin’! Now, before Fox News calls this a “giveaway” or a “handout” (which obviously they will, regardless) it’s important to know that this decision is, at its core, a corrective one. Eligible borrowers are those enrolled in income-driven repayment programs, which are supposed to trigger forgiveness after a certain number of monthly payment plans, usually after 20-25 years. But for decades, payments that should have been applied towards borrowers’ monthly payment total went unaccounted for, and debtors had no recourse but to continue paying.
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Friday’s announcement brings a plan first unveiled by DOE last year—to offer a one-time adjustment to help address the many inaccuracies in payment counts for enrolled borrowers—full-circle. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement, “For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress toward forgiveness…By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve.”
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The administration has headed off conservative criticism time and again by repeating that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 gives the DOE the authority to forgive student debt. GOP critics oppose this because they say it puts taxpayers on the hook for other people’s unpaid debts (2008 bank bailout, anyone? Trillions in defense spending on wars we opposed? We all pay each other’s unpaid debts, grow up!).
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The GOP loves riling up its base with a lot of screaming, especially any time a Democrat tries to implement corrective or progressive policies. It’s just a fact of life. (Do those policies benefit an electoral base that is being encouraged to reject them? You decide!)
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GOP lawmakers wasted no time criticizing the decision to help borrowers who have complied with a broken system. Biden’s new strategy is, apparently, a slap in the face to a Supreme Court that tried valiantly to fight for the rights of banks to drive education debtors into poverty just last month. But as Abby Shafroth, the director of the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project pointed out, this decision from the White House is wholly unrelated to the Supreme Court decision to kill Biden’s $400 billion student debt relief program.
The true implications of this decision were best summarized by Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center: “...make no mistake — over 804,000 people are receiving relief with this action because of 804,000 failures — and this is only the tip of the iceberg. Working people have been made collateral damage by a dysfunctional student loan system.” This is not a “handout”—it's a relief to which borrowers are entitled.
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The doctor’s union revolution has arrived. But what does this paradigm shift mean? In the most recent episode of America Dissected, host Dr. Abdul El-Sayed uncovers the hidden pressures that today’s doctors face, from internal power struggles to the daunting challenges of the pandemic. Tune in to learn more about how many are choosing to fight back as a united force for change. New episodes of America Dissected drop every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts.
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The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 219-210, carrying a new slate of GOP amendments like limiting abortion access and gender-affirming health care for service members, as well as banning Pentagon Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainings. May those amendments die a swift and painful death in the Senate!
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apparently misses its time as the Trump Administration's secret police so much they just ignored Biden’s order to stop deporting people en masse for no reason, according to The Intercept.
Mississippi’s attorney general Lynn Fitch, who represented the plaintiff in Dobbs v. Jackson, has written a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra signed by 18 other attorneys general in protest of a rule change that would keep states from prosecuting people who obtain abortions out of state. Not content with screwing over everyone with a uterus, Fitch has demanded access to info about all gender-affirming care, too. Seems unlikely.
According to a new report from McKinsey. remote work could wipe out $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major cities worldwide by 2023. Wouldn’t it be weird if there were also a housing crisis happening concurrently that could be helped by this “problem”?
The United States reported the deadliest six months of mass shootings since at least 2006, with 28 mass shootings causing 140 fatalities in just 180 days.
Pharma giant Eli Lilly announced on Friday that it will buy drug manufacturer Versanis for up to $1.93 billion towards its goal of competing with rival Novo Nordisk, owners of the diabetes/weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
In other news no one was asking for, former Fox News grim reaper Tucker Carlson is reportedly raising funds to start a new media company that would use Twitter as its launchpad.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) who is still very much facing federal indictment on fraud and money laundering charges, was paid $85,000 by his own campaign in the second quarter of 2023. Say what you will about this guy but he is committed to doing money crimes.
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The IRS reported that its influx of funding allowed them to collect $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income tax dodgers. So yeah, you can see why Republicans want to defund the agency.
President Biden has a huge fundraising haul to show for Q2, raising over $72 million. Even better, 30 percent of donors are new, having not previously given to Biden’s campaign in 2020.
After more than a dozen years at large, a man has been charged in four of the eleven unsolved murders attributed to a person dubbed the Long Island Serial Killer. Eight sex workers, one unidentified woman, a man, and a toddler were all found along the same stretch of beach near Gilgo, New York in 2010 and 2011; a 59-year-old architect from Massapequa, Rex Heuermann, has been charged based on what seems to be a mountain of evidence.
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