Indiana congressional representatives are lashing out on Twitter against the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, saying it will further increase inflation and place the burden of individual debt on taxpayers.
Among prominent Indiana critics of student debt relief, several had tens of thousands in federal business loans forgiven last year.
To blunt the economic impact of COVID-19, the federal government rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in March 2020.
Part of the CARES Act, PPP provided $11.5 million to American businesses and non-profits with low-interest loans intended to cover eight weeks of payroll plus benefits, although companies were free to use these loans however they saw fit. Of $793 billion distributed, $742 billion has been forgiven to date.
According to data from the Small Business Administration and shared via ProPublica, Denise Pence, wife of Indiana Congressman Greg Pence, had a $79,441 PPP loan approved in July 2020 for Pence Group, LLC, a group of antique malls registered in her name. The federal government forgave the loan in June 2021, including accrued interest.
Denise’s husband released a statement Wednesday condemning the White House student loan forgiveness plan, saying “I oppose this Administration’s deceitful proposed actions that would punish countless Hoosiers by forcing them to foot the bill for someone else’s agenda.”
Responders on social media and in the press quickly noted a perceived contradiction between Pence’s criticism and his family’s own federal debt relief.
Joe Biden’s “plan” does not cancel student loan debt. pic.twitter.com/alEWglawEg — Rep. Greg Pence (@RepGregPence) August 24, 2022
Republican Congressman Jim Baird also opposed Biden’s plan, although a company registered in his wife Danise’s name received $148,000. Indiana Home Care Plus, Inc., Baird’s home healthcare services company located in Greenwood, had its PPP loan forgiven in February 2021.
Let's be clear: the Biden administration isn't canceling debt, they're transferring it to Americans who have: - already paid their student loans - didn't go to college - paid their way through school - chose lower-cost schools to avoid a debt trap — Congressman Jim Baird (@RepJimBaird) August 25, 2022
Pence and Baird weren’t the only Indiana representatives to criticize the new plan, although they were the only two known to have profited directly from PPP.
Read more: What will President Biden's student debt relief plan mean for Hoosiers?
Representative Jim Banks argued that student loan forgiveness could jeopardize national security saying, “student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.”
Democratic Representative André Carson thanked Biden on Twitter Wednesday, but later shared an article by the Brookings Institution advocating for total student debt cancellation.
The PPP was implemented by the Small Business Administration and stopped accepting loan applications March 31, 2021.
