Budzinski, Deering both oppose Biden student loan forgiveness plan

While Illinois' governor candidates sparred Thursday night in Normal, 13th Congressional District candidates Regan Deering, a Republican, and Nikki Budzinski, a Democrat, met on the debate stage at the Illinois Public Media studios in Urbana.

While differences were seen in the candidates' positions on the issues, such as abortion and how to address gun violence, some common ground was noted regarding student loan forgiveness.

Both candidates were not in favor of President Joe Biden's executive action to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt — a plan the Congressional Budget Office estimates would cost approximately $400 billion.

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For Budzinski, a former chief of staff in Biden’s Office of Management, her concern was how taxpayers would cover those costs. The action by the president is not the best way to address college affordability, she said. College tuition and fee rates have increased by 130% since 1990, according to the Education Data Initiative.

"I very much believe that a four-year college degree should not be the only pathway to the middle class," Budzinski said. Borrowers in the lower and middle classes are the targets of the Biden plan.

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Instead, she is in favor of boosting union apprenticeships as a way to provide skills to people without "saddling them with debt and interest refinancing.

"If I can refinance my interest on my mortgage, students should be able to refinance the loans that they have taken out for their college degrees," Budzinski said. "I think that is something that is a more common sense approach to helping everyone with college affordability."

Deering, a Decatur small business owner and philanthropist, also disagreed with Biden's plan and promoted similar alternatives to the four-year degree.

"We need to take a look at how that makes people that, perhaps, didn't take out a student loan or have worked very hard to pay off that the student loan debt so it is not an offense to them," she said.

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As Deering noted, whether or not the Biden initiative goes forward depends on if legal challenges advance. Those challenges so far come from outside Illinois, most notably with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich who has filed three lawsuits against it.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has not joined any such lawsuit and is in favor of the plan. Following the August announcement by Biden, Raoul issued a statement in support but also called for further long-term reform.

“Higher education should be within reach for all Illinoisans without the fear that they will be saddled with lifelong debt," he said in a released statement. "The administration’s announcement today is a clear acknowledgment of the burden student loan debt imposes, and a response to repayment and forgiveness programs that have been historically and systemically flawed."

His Republican opponent, Tom DeVore, referred to the plan as unconstitutional and one that would add to inflation.

“Constitutional issues aside, the bill is grossly unfair," he said in a statement. "Why should someone who couldn’t afford to go to college pay off the debt of someone else who did go? Why should someone who works their way through school or has paid off their own student loans foot the bill for people who haven’t?"

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Student loan forgiveness plan opposed by 13th District candidates