Sen. Kyrsten Sinema sides with Republicans to block Biden's student debt-forgiveness plan

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and two Democratic colleagues sided with Republicans to seek to cancel President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

It comes as the debt-ceiling deal between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., requires restarting collection of such debts later this year.

Ending Biden’s plans to erase up to $20,000 for those making less than $125,000 annually faces an uncertain future. He is likely to veto the measure, which passed 52-46 in the Senate on Wednesday and narrowly cleared the House on party lines.

The Biden policy is also being challenged by Republican attorneys general in court.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., joined Sinema, I-Ariz., on a vote to block Biden’s plan that had the support of every Republican senator.

The student loan issue stands as an area separating Sinema from Democrats, whom she has worked with, along with Republicans, to avert a government default.

Sinema worked in tandem with Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on trying to keep the aims of a law boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing intact during the negotiations. But she parted ways with most in her former party on the issue of wiping out student loan debts.

In a written statement, Sinema called Biden’s plans unrealistic and unfair.

“Like many Arizonans, education was my key to opportunity,” said Sinema, who carried student loan debt when she joined Congress. “Arizonans expect — and deserve — lasting solutions that tackle the underlying problem of high education costs.

“The President’s student loan forgiveness plan — fueled by politics and not reality — is unfair to hardworking Arizonans who have responsibly paid their student loans, creates false expectations, and undermines Arizona students’ economic certainty.”

She has backed alternate plans intended to make student loans more affordable, including one modeled after an Arizona matched-savings plan that Sinema said would help reduce student debt loads.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Biden’s expected veto will keep his plan on track.

“Senate Republicans just voted to block (Biden’s) student debt relief plan, force millions to immediately pay back paused student loans & claw back relief from public servants,” she wrote in a tweet. “It’s shameful. Thankfully we have President Biden who cares about working people & will veto this.”

Student loan payments could resume, perhaps by the beginning of September, under the terms of the debt-ceiling deal that is expected to pass the Senate and gain Biden’s approval ahead of the Monday deadline to avoid default.

If the student debt pause ends, it will restart payment obligations for at least 30 million people.

While Sinema opposed extending the debt pause now, she supported it at the outset of the pandemic, when it began.

In June 2021, Sinema was one of 21 Democratic senators to sign on to a letter to Biden urging an extension of the student debt pause headed by Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“Extending the pause on student loan payments will help Arizonans get back on their feet as our economy recovers from the pandemic,” Sinema said at the time.

The joint letter argued that the pandemic required a pause on payments by debtors restricted by an economy that still was recovering from quarantine and its related economic problems. It also argued that student debt was a problem even before the pandemic.

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“The United States faces a historic student debt crisis, with many of the nearly 43 million Americans with student loans being crushed under almost $1.6 trillion in debt,” the letter said.

“The suspension of payments and interest during the pandemic has provided essential relief to borrowers and their families during this economic and public health crisis. Restarting payments, however, will present a significant challenge for borrowers, loan servicers, and the Department of Education (ED), and we urge you not to let the payment pause lapse when borrowers are still depending on this financial relief.”

The letter asked to keep the moratorium in place until April 2022 or until the economy was back to pre-pandemic employment levels, whichever was longer. Employment returned to pre-pandemic levels in August.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sinema sides with Republicans to block Biden on student debt