HARRISBURG, Pa. — Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is no fan of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ moves to forgive student-loan debt, and he made that abundantly clear in Pennsylvania’s capital city last week.
“I think when the administration announced they were gonna do forgiveness, I had just paid off all my loans off six months before,” Donalds said Thursday.
“So I was pissed,” he continued. “Honestly, I was mad.”
Noting he had student loans for a long time, Donalds slammed the “immoral” nature of passing the burden of outstanding debt onto taxpayers who either never went to college or already paid what they owed.
“’Hold up, am I gonna get a reimbursement check for another thing I was supposed to do?’ And they’re like, ‘No, because you paid it,’” the rep said.
Donalds also went after Biden and Harris for blasting a Supreme Court decision striking down executive action on student-loan forgiveness while knowing it was illegal.
“They did not have the legal authority to forgive student loans. They knew they didn’t have the authority to forgive student loans,” Donalds said.
“The administration goes and they blame the court,” he added. “No, the court was right!”
Donalds made the comments while speaking to a large room of employees at Ritter Insurance Marketing, a Harrisburg-based firm where he stopped to campaign for House colleague Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
In a race that has caught the attention of GOP leaders nationally, Perry is facing a stiff challenge from longtime central Pennsylvania news anchor Janelle Stelson.
Recent polls show Stelson leading by as many as 9 points in Pennsylvania’s red-leaning 10th Congressional District — which the Cook Political Report has moved into toss-up territory.
Donalds believes Perry’s race is receiving national attention because Democrats are pushing an “unproven” candidate in Stelson.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee “is trying to replace a very good member of Congress with somebody who’s completely unproven and will just follow Democrat leadership along,” Donalds told The Post.
As the administration keeps forgiving more federal student-loan debt, Donalds and Perry expressed concern about the rising cost of college tuition — the rate of which has exceeded already record-high inflation.
Harris and former President Donald Trump are tied in Pennsylvania, the latest polling shows.
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