Congressional Record — Senate, S4454 (September 7, 2022)
Summary
Pages S4454 and S4455 of the Congressional Record, Senate, September 7, 2022 carry floor remarks. Under the heading Student Loan Debt Relief Plan, the remarks say that on August 24, 8 days after signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, President Biden announced forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt, and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients. They cite the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and say the Penn Wharton Budget Model suggests the total cost over 10 years could exceed $1 trillion. Under Border Security, Cornyn says that since October of last year Customs and Border Protection has seized more than 10,600 pounds of fentanyl, and that 108,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year.
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“Congressional Record — Senate, S4454 (September 7, 2022).”
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S4454 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 7, 2022
It is a real issue. It is hitting the Act would have only reduced the def- $10,000] of student loan relief, and breaking
pocketbooks of every American in this icit by about $300 billion. President another, [which is that] all proposals [have
country to the tune 81⁄2 to 9 percent for Biden’s student loan plan will wipe out to be] paid for, is even worse.
a family. I said this before, but the every single dime of that reduction and That is from Obama economic ad-
analysis is out there. For an average then add hundreds of billions of dollars viser Jason Furman.
family in this country, you are talking to the debt on top of it—so much for Another former Obama economic ad-
about, year over year to buy the same the Democrats’ commitment to reduc- viser noted:
basket of goods you bought last year, ing the deficit, which, I think, was a Student loan debt relief is spending that
an additional $9,000 over last year—$700 hoax in the first place. raises demand and increases inflation. . . . It
and some per month, year-over-year, will also tend to be inflationary by raising
There wasn’t any serious commit-
month-over-month increases in costs tuitions.
ment to it, but it only took them 8
for average families in this country. days—8 days—to wipe it out after they Well, there are even some current
That is a $9,000 tax increase on every crowed about it and talked about how Democrat Members of Congress that
family in this country. they got JOE MANCHIN on board because have expressed their concerns about
Now, it is borne arguably more easily he made a commitment to deficit re- the President’s reckless student loan
by people in high-income categories, duction, which was something he sup- decision. And the president of the Com-
but if you are a working family who is posedly insisted on in these discus- mittee for a Responsible Federal Budg-
trying to make ends meet and is put- sions. And yet here we are. Eight et, which, I mentioned, is where Presi-
ting more and more on your credit card days—in 8 days it is gone. dent Biden’s very own Treasury Sec-
or dipping into savings—and there are Now, I have already noted that the retary once served on the board, issued
more and more people in this country. a scathing statement in which she said:
Committee for a Responsible Federal
I just saw this number yesterday where This announcement is gallingly reckless—
Budget estimates that the President’s
one out of every six Americans now is with the national debt approaching record
student loan measures will cost a stag-
behind in their utility payments. There levels and inflation surging, it will make
gering half a trillion dollars over the both worse. . . . It would do nothing to actu-
are people living paycheck to pay-
next decade. Here is what else the Com- ally make education more affordable, and if
check, and inflation is killing them.
mittee for a Responsible Federal Budg- anything, this policy will drive up tuition
And it is like this administration has a
blind eye to that and wants to talk et had to say: costs while raising prices on a variety of
The student debt cancellation and relief other goods and services for ordinary Ameri-
about a lot of other issues. And I can cans.
measures announced . . . by the Biden ad-
see why, because this is an issue I
ministration . . . would meaningfully boost This is from the Committee for a Re-
would not want to have to take respon- inflation.
sibility for. sponsible Federal Budget, which is
In many respects, all the spending— ‘‘Would meaningfully boost infla- where the President’s own Treasury
all the spending pushed through here, tion’’—that is right. Americans have Secretary used to serve.
advocated by the President—the $2 tril- spent the majority of the Biden admin- Let me repeat that: ‘‘while raising
lion last year, the American Rescue istration struggling with huge in- prices on a variety of other goods and
Plan, and just in the last month, an- creases in the price of everything from services for ordinary Americans.’’
other $750 billion in spending and gas to groceries, and the President just Well, as the Washington Post edi-
taxes, and the heavy-handed regula- imposed by fiat a new policy that is torial board noted, American taxpayers
tion, the shutdown of oil and gas pro- likely to ‘‘meaningfully boost infla- will be footing the bill for the Presi-
duction in this country, which drives tion.’’ dent’s student loan decision. Ordinary
up the cost of energy and which is re- I guess it isn’t surprising. After all, Americans will pay in the form of high-
flected, as I pointed out, in a lot of it is thanks in large part to the Demo- er prices. They will pay in the form of
these numbers—if you look at the fuel crats and the President that we ended higher rates on loans and mortgages,
costs year over year, you actually have up with this inflation crisis in the first and they will pay in the form of higher
a situation in American agriculture place. tuition costs.
today where you have record gross cash As I mentioned earlier, their reckless The majority of Americans do not
receipts and a reduction in inflation- American Rescue Plan spending spree have student loan debt, either because
adjusted net income. That is the im- flooded the country with unnecessary they paid off their loans, never went to
pact of inflation. money and the economy overheated as college, got a scholarship, or worked
STUDENT LOAN DEBT RELIEF PLAN a result. But the President’s latest their way through college or were able
Mr. President, 8 days—8 days—that is reckless action underscores just how to go thanks to their or their parents’
how long it took President Biden to committed Democrats are to big-spend- savings. Now these Americans are
completely erase any of the supposed ing and big-government agenda. going to be footing the bill for the 13
deficit reduction included in the Demo- Now, Democrats tried to suggest that percent of Americans who do have stu-
crats’ so-called Inflation Reduction they had gotten serious about the dent loan debt. Everyone is going to
Act. economy with their so-called Inflation have to suffer economically to provide
On August 24, 8 days after signing the Reduction Act, even though the bill loan forgiveness for the few.
Inflation Reduction Act into law, was only serious about spending tax- This is deeply, deeply unfair. It is un-
President Biden announced that, with payer dollars on ill-considered prior- fair to expect Americans who either
the stroke of his pen, he would be for- ities like their Green New Deal agenda. never went to college, paid off their
giving $10,000 in student loan debt, But the fact—the fact—that it took the loans, or paid their way through to
$20,000 for Pell grant recipients, and President exactly 8 days to wipe out shoulder the cost of other Americans’
taking other costly measures on stu- any deficit reduction from the Demo- loans.
dent loans. crats’ bill tells you all you need to The President’s decision is unfair to
The Committee for a Responsible know about exactly how serious Demo- parents who scrimped and saved to
Federal Budget, which, incidentally, is crats are about handling taxpayer dol- send their children to college, rep-
where Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen lars responsibly. resenting a lot of American families; to
served prior to joining the Biden ad- Now, I have talked for a while about the students who chose a lower cost
ministration, estimates that, all to- why the President’s student loan plans college or worked to put themselves
gether, the President’s student loan are such bad economic policy, but you through; to the men and women in uni-
form in the military who fought for
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changes will cost anywhere from $440 don’t have to take my word for it. Here
billion to $600 billion over the next dec- is what former Obama economic ad- this country to earn money for their
ade. The Penn Wharton Budget Model viser Jason Furman had to say about college education; and to the families
suggests it could be even worse than President Biden’s student loan plans: struggling with high grocery bills and
that, with the total cost over 10 years Pouring roughly half [a] trillion dollars of high energy bills and high rent prices
exceeding $1 trillion. gasoline on the inflationary fire that already who are likely to end up facing even
Now, even using the most optimistic is burning is reckless. Doing it while going more price increases, thanks to the
assumptions, the Inflation Reduction well beyond one campaign promise, [which is President’s student loan decisions.
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September 7, 2022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4455
And let’s remember that taxpayers The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- have to leave the frontlines to trans-
are going to be facing economic hard- pore. Without objection, it is so or- port, process, and care for the mi-
ship to pay off student loans for Ameri- dered. grants, creating huge security gaps.
cans who, if they graduated from col- BORDER SECURITY There is no question that the cartels
lege, enjoy greater long-term earning Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, since and criminal organizations are exploit-
potential than many of the Americans President Biden took office on January ing those gaps to traffic dangerous
who will be helping to shoulder the 20, 2021, he has willfully ignored what drugs. They are bringing across heroin,
burden for their debts. has been happening at our southern methamphetamine, cocaine, mari-
The President’s plan isn’t even tar- border. The President and leaders of juana—name your poison.
geted to the most needy, with families his administration try to convince peo- The truth is, these transnational
making $250,000 a year—nearly 10 times ple that what they were seeing with criminal organizations—sometimes
the poverty line for a family of 4—now their eyes was not a crisis but was called cartels—are commodity-agnos-
eligible to have their loans forgiven. merely a challenge. When that flopped, tic. They are in it for the money, and
There is no doubt that the cost of a they attempted to blame the previous they will sell anything or anybody to
college education has risen out- administration for the flood of human- make money.
rageously and that, in some cases, stu- ity coming across the southern border, But without a doubt, the most alarm-
dents have been encouraged to take on even though the immigration surge has ing drug that is crossing the border
unrealistic levels of debt to pay for it, now reached epic proportions since today is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.
but the President’s student loan plan Last year, the Biden administration
President Biden took office.
does absolutely nothing to fix these Now, once again, they appear to be may have not noticed, but 108,000
problems. ignoring the problem altogether. We Americans died of drug overdoses last
The President’s plan will not only do
have had 17 months with more than year alone, and the vast majority of
nothing to control the cost of a college
150,000 illegal border crossings each those drugs came across the southern
education, it will almost undoubtedly
month—17 months, 150,000 migrants border because of the business model I
make our current situation worse.
What college is going to spend time each month—and the Biden adminis- just described. The majority of those
worrying about lowering tuition fees if tration seems to be saying: What is the deaths involve synthetic opioids like
it can expect the Federal Government problem? Their decision, apparently, is fentanyl. Fentanyl is especially dan-
to pick up part of the bill for its stu- to stay the course. gerous because as little as 2 milligrams
dents’ educations? What little attention there has been can be deadly. That is a lethal dose
The President’s plan will also do to the impact on the border crisis tends that fits on the tip of a sharpened pen-
nothing to discourage students from to focus, though, solely on the mi- cil.
taking on unrealistic levels of debt. In grants, and, of course, that is part of Customs and Border Protection
fact, it is likely to encourage students the concern. No one is suggesting that doesn’t track fentanyl seizures by mil-
to incur even more debt since the we treat them with disrespect or in an ligrams, although it logs them in
President has now set up an expecta- inhumane manner. In fact, just the pounds. Since October last year, Cus-
tion that the government will step in contrary is true. We know that people toms and Border Protection has seized
to help pay down students’ loan bur- coming into the country outside of the more than 10,600 pounds of fentanyl.
dens. legal immigration system endure a And, no, they didn’t get it all; that is
Given the fact that student loan debt brutal journey just to get here. They just what they were able to interdict
is expected to be back to its current pay thousands of dollars to cartels and and seize. But that 10,600 pounds of
level in 6 years, I imagine we will be coyotes—or human smugglers—and fentanyl is more than 2.4 billion lethal
hearing more Democratic calls for stu- often the women and girls are raped doses—enough to wipe out the entire
dent loan forgiveness in the very near and abused. Migrants who slow down U.S. population more than 7 times
future. In fact, some Members of the the coyotes will be abandoned and fre- over.
Democratic Party already think the quently left to die. We see that particu- You would think this would be a
President didn’t go far enough. More larly in South Texas around the matter of serious concern for the ad-
than one Democrat wanted the Presi- Falfurrias checkpoint, where we see ministration, an operation which uses
dent to forgive $50,000 in debt. Now, ap- the migrants coming across the river. migrants to distract law enforcement
parently, these Democrats won’t be Then they are put in stash houses in from being able to interdict a dan-
satisfied until our economy drowns en- inhumane conditions and then driven gerous drug coming into the United
tirely under the weight of reckless gov- north through the Border Patrol States and taking tens of thousands of
ernment spending. checkpoints. But because of their fear Americans’ lives, but, frankly, it
The defining achievement of the of being discovered, the coyotes tell hasn’t even registered any kind of reac-
Biden administration so far has been them: Get out of the vehicle and walk tion by the administration.
an economy that has left millions of around the checkpoint and meet us on The good news is, thanks to the hard-
Americans struggling to make ends the north side to continue our journey. working Customs and Border Protec-
meet. Apparently, the President wants The problem is, this time of year, the tion officers, those 10,600 pounds of
that to be his legacy because, for the weather and temperatures are brutal. fentanyl never ended up on our streets
sake of a few possible votes in Novem- Frequently, ranchers in Brooks Coun- or in our local communities, but the
ber, he has decided to pursue yet an- ty, which is the county where the bad news is, there is a whole lot more
other economic policy that will almost Falfurrias checkpoint is located, find where that came from.
undoubtedly result in further economic the bones of migrants who did not Cartels exploit the security gaps
pain for the American people. make it or otherwise dead bodies. across the border to smuggle drugs into
Now he will just have to hope that Migrants are certainly the face of the our country. While the first stop may
his strategy doesn’t backfire because,
Biden border crisis, but they are not be Texas or another State along the
while his reckless student loan plan
the only ones being hurt by the failure southern border, these products don’t
may buy him a vote or two, a lot of
of the administration to deal with this stop there; they are quickly distributed
other Americans may decide that they
crisis. When thousands of people a day by networks of criminal gangs across
have had their fill of inflationary
illegally cross our border, it impacts America to every community—not just
spending and far-left appeasement.
I yield the floor. our entire border security apparatus. cities but rural communities as well.
We are seeing unprecedented numbers Fentanyl poses a unique danger be-
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I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- of people showing up at the border, and cause not only is it incredibly potent,
pore. The clerk will call the roll. unfortunately it is part of a plan to but it is also a lot cheaper than these
The legislative clerk proceeded to overwhelm the capacity of law enforce- other drugs. Illicit drug makers will
call the roll. ment to deal with these numbers. This lace substances with fentanyl to cut
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask is part of a business model of the drug expenses and to hook the user, and
unanimous consent that the order for cartels. Flood the border with mi- buyers often have no idea what they
the quorum call be rescinded. grants. Distract the Border Patrol, who are actually getting.
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