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Yet again, the Biden Administration is trying to use executive action to reduce student loan debt. This comes as the president works to find ways to connect with younger voters prior to the November election.
And once again, the White House's approach fails to address the root causes of this problem -- and sets an expensive precedent in an age of a $34 trillion national debt.
As we've previously written, "any proposal to cancel or forgive student loan debt without addressing the underlying problem -- that for decades college tuition has increased in cost at a rate much greater than families' incomes -- only fuels the appetite to spend our way out of the problem temporarily. As new students enroll and take on such grossly inflated tuition, we immediately begin down the road to the same problem, only likely more expensive in the future."
Lawmakers have ideas to help deal with this issue. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, have offered bills that address student loan debt in more affordable, more targeted ways.
Fetterman's proposal focuses relief on students and former students who survived crimes, stalking or harassment. Thompson's proposal focuses on students and former students in the agricultural field.
Both proposals are superior to any notion that the taxpayers owe assistance to anyone who took on student loans, regardless of their own choices and responsibilities.
A balanced, more fair approach to this contentious issue can be found -- through the transparent debate and compromise of the legislative process. Asking the taxpayers to take on additional debt without any plan to stop that debt from continuing to accrue in the future makes little sense.