Cedar Rapids Today

In Iowa, we value commonsense. We believe hard work should be rewarded, the law should be followed, and if you take out a loan, you pay it back. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration and many on the left continue issuing out of touch proposals and policies that fly in the face of individual responsibility and accountability.

Americans elected a Republican majority in the House to push back and protect the country from this ridiculous agenda. Last week alone we held the line against three of the most radical ideas put forward by the left – from unfairly forcing taxpayers to pay others’ bills to housing illegal immigrants in elementary schools.

Even after a bipartisan majority in the House and Senate voted to overturn President Biden’s $400 billion student loan “cancelation” scheme, President Biden recently vetoed our legislation and doubled down on his effort to force hardworking Iowans who didn’t go to college or have already paid off their loans to pay for others’ degrees.

You can’t cancel student debt, you can only transfer it – President Biden's plan forces American taxpayers who don't hold student debt to pay off the debt held by only 13% of the population. In Iowa, this would cost each taxpayer $3,730. I proudly voted to denounce his veto and will leave no stone unturned to block this scheme and safeguard taxpayers against this abuse.

In this same vein, the Biden Administration recently announced changes to the pricing grid for single family home loans, effectively forcing borrowers who have built up good credit to subsidize loans for riskier borrowers with poor credit.

Under this rule, Americans with a credit score of 680 pay approximately $40 dollars more per month on a $400,000 loan to fund loans for those with worse credit; buyers who make down payments of 20% on their home will bear some of the highest fee increases. That's why I voted for the Middle Class Borrower Protection Act, legislation to block this rule and ensure that loan fees are determined based on true risk. Punishing borrowers who have made financially sound decisions to build good credit is fundamentally unfair – how ironic for an Administration that claims to be all about equity.

And finally, at the height of crazy – some Democratic-run cities are looking at plans to house illegal immigrants in public school gyms, claiming they have no alternative as their cities are overrun with illegal immigrants. But there is a clear alternative: secure the border, end catch and release, and stop incentivizing illegal immigration. As a mom of two school-aged boys, I voted to ensure that public schools don’t become sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. 

To recap – it’s crazy to force someone to pay off someone else’s student loans, it’s crazy to make someone with good credit subsidize loans for riskier borrowers, and it’s crazy to house illegal immigrants in public schools instead of securing the border – but that’s the out of touch agenda the Biden Administration is pursuing.

As the Biden Administration continues down this radical path, I’ll keep working to make common sense a common virtue again. 

Original source can be found here.