Talk about unfortunate timing.
This week came reports of an analysis of President Joe Biden’s latest college debt bailout plan, even as American taxpayers watched disturbing scenes of students at elite colleges taking over buildings and battling police.
According to the prestigious Wharton School’s analysis, Biden’s “new plans will cost $84 billion in addition to the $475 billion that we estimated for President Biden’s SAVE plan, for a total cost of about $559 billion across both plans.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit public policy organization, projects the Biden bailout plan will cost American taxpayers between $870 billion and $1.4 trillion.
While the Biden administration is pressing ahead with its attempts to give more taxpayer-funded debt relief to college grads, the mood on Capitol Hill is very different. In response to the widespread chaos on college campuses from anti-Israel protesters, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would make it easier for colleges to apply their anti-discrimination policies against people targeting Jews.
Both of New Hampshire’s House members voted for the legislation.
Experts say the Biden administration’s proposal to cancel student debt could be the key to his successful reelection in November.
Some critics of the antisemitic campus protests want to go further, urging that university students arrested or expelled for participating in antisemitic campus protests be declared ineligible for college debt bailouts.
When asked about the proposal, all of the GOP congressional candidates in the Granite State said they were on board.
And the Democrats? They were all “no comment.”
Republican Hollie Noveletsky, one of three GOP candidates angling for the nomination to challenge Rep. Chris Pappas in the First Congressional District, told NHJournal she’s “opposed to student loan forgiveness in general.”
“As far as my opinion on student loan forgiveness, I think the issue goes much further than these pro-Hamas protestors,” Noveletsky, a former U.S. Army reservist, said. “I don’t think hard-working blue-collar workers in the steel industry, many of whom skipped college, should be paying these loans.
“If you borrowed the money, you should pay it back.”
Novoletsky added that “confronting the lawlessness and antisemitism on college campuses is vital, and the students engaging in these violent demonstrations must be held accountable.”
Former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott, also running in the NH-01 primary, agreed.
“As a matter of principle, I don’t think taxpayers should be on the hook for anyone’s student loans, especially not for those who have committed violent and criminal actions during these demonstrations,” he said.
Prescott noted the Constitution “protects the rights of Americans to peacefully protest, even if we don’t agree with the subject matter,” but called it “unfortunate” that “these protests have turned violent in some instances.
“It is also deeply disturbing, frankly, as are the attacks on the Jewish people and their faith.”
Fellow GOP challenger, businessman, and U.S. Army veteran Chris Bright offered a similar answer.
“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for someone else’s college debt under any circumstances, including and especially if students choose to spend their college years in a jail cell for committing violent crimes rather than in the library,” he told NHJournal.
Pappas did not respond to requests for comment. His position on debt bailout has been fluid, but last year he voted to save Biden’s debt forgiveness plan, as did outgoing Second Congressional District Democrat Rep. Annie Kuster.
Like Pappas, Kuster would not say if she supports withholding debt relief from antisemitic activists arrested or expelled from school. The two Democrats looking to claim her seat, state Sen. Becky Whitley (D-Hopkinton) and former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, did not respond to NHJournal’s inquiry.
Lily Tang Williams, who is seeking the GOP nomination in the district, told NHJournal that while she “supports free speech and believes it must be protected,” she also believes “any student, after they have been given due process, that has been convicted of a crime on school property should not be eligible for student debt forgiveness.”
“Furthermore, I oppose most forms of student debt forgiveness,” she added. “We don’t forgive car loans to those who use their cars for work.”
Tang Williams, who received about 25 percent of the vote in the 2022 primary for the same seat, also questioned the legality of the Biden administration’s plan.
“Biden has no legal authority to forgive student loans per the U.S. Supreme Court, but he did not care to follow their ruling,” she said, citing the court’s 6-3 decision last June that Biden lacked the authority to unilaterally cancel student loans.
The other prominent Republican candidate in the race, entrepreneur Vikram Mansharamani, is also opposed to college loan bailouts on principle.
“I don’t support student loan bailouts for anybody, let alone those who have been arrested or expelled for antisemitic or pro-Hamas disruptions,” he told NHJournal in a statement. He also called on Van Ostern and Whitley to “condemn these pro-Hamas protests.”
In a recent op-ed, Mansharamani wrote, “Students should be expelled and acts of violence should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Foreign students who harass Jewish students or commit acts of violence and vandalism should have their student visas revoked and be deported immediately.
“Colleges and universities that cannot or will not protect their Jewish students should suffer consequences as well, having their federal funding suspended. Alumni should suspend donations to their alma maters. And under no circumstances should universities cancel graduations or force students into virtual classrooms. There should be thorough investigations, and university presidents should be forced to resign, or be fired.”
In a related development, Gov. Chris Sununu on Wednesday joined all 26 other GOP gubernatorial leaders in signing on to a statement condemning antisemitism on behalf of the Republican Governors Association. The timing of the announcement coincided with the first day of Jewish American Heritage Month.
“Our country has a long history of supporting Israel, and now more than ever, it’s important we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community against horrific acts of antisemitism, religious bigotry, and terrorism both in our country and across the globe.”
