(The Hill) – The White House on Thursday called out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) criticism of President Biden’s plan to forgive some student loans, noting that the congresswoman had Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven.
The Biden administration’s official Twitter account shared a video of Greene knocking the just-announced debt cancellation in a Newsmax interview as “completely unfair.”
“Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven,” the White House wrote, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a lifeline extended to help small businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from ProPublica shows the loan and accrued interest for Greene’s company, Taylor Commercial, Inc., which reportedly would go to payroll, was forgiven.
The Hill has reached out to Greene’s office for comment.
In a Twitter thread below its response to Greene’s criticism, the White House gave similar responses to other Congressional critics of the student loan debt announcement. The members of Congress whose PPP loan amounts were revealed include Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
The Biden administration is forgiving up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for Americans earning less than $125,000 per year, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients earning less than $125,000 per year.
Biden also announced yet another extension of a freeze on federal student loan repayments and interest accrual, just before the Aug. 31 expiration date set when the deadline was last pushed back.
“For our government just to say, you know, ‘OK well your debt is completely forgiven,’ … it’s completely unfair,” Greene said in the Newsmax interview, which aired Wednesday.
Taxpayers “shouldn’t have to pay off the great big student loan debt for some college student that piled up massive debt going to some Ivy league school,” Greene argued. “That’s not fair.”
The debt relief move, meanwhile, has garnered praise from Democrats amid Republicans’ criticism of the economics.
Biden responded on Wednesday to reporters’ questions about whether the debt forgiveness is unfair to those who have already paid off or chose not to take out loans, taking a swing at tax cuts on the rich.
“Is it fair to people who, in fact, do not own multibillion-dollar businesses, if they see one of these guys getting all the tax cuts? Is that fair? What do you think?” Biden said after his remarks announcing the plan.