FILE - US President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with leaders of his federal emergency preparedness and response team to receive the annual briefing on extreme weather preparedness, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)WASHINGTON - A Republican measure overturning President Joe Biden's student loan cancellation plan passed the Senate on Thursday and now awaits an expected veto.The vote was 52-46, with support from Democratic Sens.
Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana as well as Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent. The resolution was approved last week by the GOP-controlled House by a 218-203 vote.Biden has pledged to keep in place his commitment to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million people.
The legislation adds to Republican criticism of the plan, which was halted in November in response to lawsuits from conservative opponents.The Supreme Court heard arguments in February in a challenge to Biden's move, with the conservative majority seemingly ready to sink the plan.
A decision is expected in the coming weeks.Teachers’ union boss Randi Weingarten worked herself up during a speech outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, comparing President Biden’s student loan handout to the COVID-19 small business loans of 2020."The president’s student loan schemes do not ‘forgive’ debt, they just shift the burden from those who chose to take out loans onto those who never went to college or already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans," said Louisiana Sen.