(NewsNation) — The Biden administration announced this week that it will be continuing the pause on student loan payments amid the White House’s ongoing court battle to save the president’s plan to cancel portions of the debt.
Challengers say it’s illegal.
But while White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan accused Republican officials of “standing with special interests, and fighting to stop relief for borrowers buried under mountains of debt,” some political experts say there are valid arguments on both sides.
Niall Stanage, a journalist and associate editor of The Hill, joined NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” on Wednesday to discuss those two sides.
“Obviously, on the Democratic side — on President Biden’s side — it’s the idea that you provide relief to these people and you frankly encourage people to get educated to the highest level possible and that that is a good thing for the nation,” Stanage said.
Stanage also outlined the arguments against student loan forgiveness.
“Now, the arguments against it are things like, only one in five adult Americans have any student debt at all, so you’re giving aid to them and not the other four-fifths of the population. There is also an argument that you aren’t actually doing anything to address the soaring costs of college. In fact, you might actually be encouraging people to think that future debts will also (be) relieved or wiped out in some way. So there’s the question of so-called moral hazard that comes into play, as well,” he said.
Watch the rest of the interview to hear Stanage’s breakdown of the issue.