White House’s Offensive Against GOP Critics of Student Debt Cancellation Could Backfire: Analysts

News Analysis

The White House’s attack on Republicans for their alleged hypocrisy in taking advantage of the loan forgiveness provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) while opposing President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness for to up to 43 million Americans is highly misguided, according to a GOP lawmaker and experts.

PPP was an emergency program run by the Small Business Administration to make sure companies paid their employees as the states began COVID-19 lockdowns at the height of the pandemic.

In return for continuing to pay employees, companies were “forgiven” the loan amounts by the originating banks, which were then reimbursed by the federal government.

In defending the administration’s student debt cancelation plan, Biden and his Democratic colleagues tried to use the pandemic-caused PPP loan forgiveness provisions to call GOP leaders hypocrites for taking out PPP loans, which were ultimately paid by the federal government, while opposing student loan forgiveness.

In a series of tweets, the White House on Aug. 25 called out prominent GOP members, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), and others, each of whom received PPP payments, but protested against student loan forgiveness.

Critics Blast Biden For Politicizing PPP

But financial experts and a GOP lawmaker told The Epoch Times that the White House’s comparison between PPP and student loans forgiveness doesn’t hold up and could certainly backfire in the future.

“President Biden’s decision to politicize this temporary emergency program to justify his illegal debt cancellation plan is the type of disinformation he supposedly opposes,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told The Epoch Times.

Others were less kind to the president.

“In a nutshell, it’s a [B.S.] comparison,” Fox Business host Charles Payne told The Epoch Times.

The Biden critics cite the fact

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