EDITORIAL: Biden pondering student loan vote-buying scheme

If you’re blatantly seeking to buy votes, better to wait until an election nears. That appears to be President Joe Biden’s logic when it comes to the massive wealth transfer scheme that progressives call student loan forgiveness.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House will likely delay until July or August a decision on whether to forgive all or some portion of the $1.7 trillion in student loan debt held by 40 million borrowers. Mr. Biden indicated in May that he would act publicly within a matter of weeks, but has instead opted for further delays.

The administration’s procrastination almost certainly stems from an internal dispute among leftists who want blanket amnesty and moderates who favor a more targeted approach. The president himself has questioned whether he has the authority to act unilaterally and has said he supports erasing $10,000 per borrower, basing eligibility on income.

Either way, however, this fiscally reckless proposal sends precisely the wrong message to those with outstanding obligations and Americans who either paid their bills responsibly or opted not to go to college.

Any blanket amnesty plan would be a benefit to the wealthy — an analysis by the left-leaning Brookings Institute concluded that “almost a third of all student debt is owed by the wealthiest 20 percent of households and only 8 percent by the bottom 20 percent.”

Imposing income limits on debt forgiveness would be somewhat less offensive, yet a previously leaked proposal indicated the president was willing to include those who make up to $125,000 a year. In other words, well-paid professionals. In addition, Politico reported last month that the Education Department lacks individual income information for most borrowers, making any cap problematic.

That revealing tidbit tells you all you need to know about the government’s student loan program: It has sent billions of dollars to young adults with minimal credit histories, all without regard for whether they’ll ever be able to pay it back. To make matters worse, Mr. Biden proposes wiping out some percentage of debt without reforming the existing system, meaning taxpayers will be on the hook for a repeat.

But for an administration mired in bad news of its own making, the temptation to use the student loan issue as a means of driving left wing turnout is irresistible. And the president and his team aren’t even trying to hide how this massive taxpayer giveaway is simply a means to secure votes in November.

“The president’s advisers are weighing the political boost that could come from forgiving loans among young people and others,” the Journal reported. But rest assured there will also be millions of Americans who have met their obligations and don’t enjoy being played for slack-jawed suckers.