From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   I’ll Pass on the Student-Loan Relief   
   By Holly Wetzel, Aug. 14, 2023, WSJ   
   Biden’s latest attempt to cancel student loans is targeted at people like   
   me. I’m 27 and have $25,000 in student-loan debt. But when my employer sued   
   the government on Aug. 4 to stop this bailout, I cheered. The president   
   shouldn’t be allowed to    
   shred the Constitution, even if I benefit.   
      
   The administration’s continued disregard of the Constitution is willful.   
   After the Supreme Court struck down the president’s previous $430 billion   
   forgiveness scheme in June, the White House sent out a press release expanding   
   its new forgiveness plan,   
    first announced last April. Because I work for a nonprofit think tank, I   
   qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which cancels   
   remaining debt for people who work 10 years at qualified nonprofits or in   
   government. Under the latest    
   expansion, I’d have 36 months of payments shaved off what I owe.   
      
   I don’t fault anyone for taking advantage of relief when it’s offered, but   
   I didn’t take this job to avoid paying back loans. I have a passion for   
   nonprofit work that furthers free-market ideals. The 10-year forgiveness plan   
   is a nice perk, but it†  
   ™s not something to which I’m entitled. And I’m certainly not entitled to   
   have my payment timeline whittled down further. Someone has to pick up the   
   tab, and it’s unfair to put the burden on taxpayers.   
      
   It’s also unconstitutional. When lawmakers created the 10-year forgiveness   
   program in 2007, they didn’t give the president the power to rewrite the   
   loan time frame at will. Mr. Biden could have done the work of convincing   
   Congress to enact relief for    
   borrowers. Instead, the Education Department announced forgiveness via press   
   releases, without any official executive action. Press releases aren’t   
   legislation, or even regulation.   
      
   The Mackinac Center and the Cato Institute are suing with the help of the New   
   Civil Liberties Alliance. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of   
   Michigan dismissed our case Tuesday, but we will likely appeal the decision.   
   If the suit succeeds,    
   I’ll have to spend more time and money paying off my debt. I’m OK with   
   that. It’s what I signed up for when I took out my college loans. Why should   
   my friends who made different choices—like living with their parents while   
   attending a commuter    
   school or working full-time—have to pay for my decisions? What about the   
   millions of taxpayers who didn’t attend college?   
      
   The rising cost of college and the growing student-debt burden are serious   
   problems. We need solutions at the federal and state levels to make college   
   more affordable and debt less burdensome. Yet it’s no solution to swap the   
   rule of law for the raw    
   exercise of power, especially on behalf of favored constituencies. Mr.   
   Biden’s disregard for the Constitution sets a dangerous precedent in   
   treating Congress as a formality. If Mr. Biden’s actions stand, there’s no   
   telling what future presidents    
   will do.   
      
   Such principles as the separation of powers matter far more than a payoff.   
   With such major questions on the line, this issue seems destined to end up   
   back at the Supreme Court. Meantime, I’ll keep working at a free-market   
   think tank, fighting for    
   taxpayers without demanding that they bail me out in return.   
      
   Ms. Wetzel is director of public relations at the Mackinac Center for Public   
   Policy.   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/ill-pass-on-the-student-loan-relief   
   college-students-biden-repayment-constitution-171ee35a   
      
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