{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-demands-transparency-about-biden-plan-to-transfer-student-loan-debt-to-taxpayers", "Cotton Demands Transparency About Biden Plan to Transfer Student Loan Debt to Taxpayers", "2022-05-03", "2022", "2022-05", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353\n\nMay 3, 2022\n\nCotton Demands Transparency About Biden Plan to Transfer Student Loan Debt to Taxpayers\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona demanding transparency regarding the Biden administration\u2019s deliberations on transferring over $1.5 trillion in student loan debt to taxpayers.\n\nIn part, Cotton wrote, \u201cI\u2019m firmly opposed to student debt cancellation. It is an insult to the majority of Americans who chose not to attend college, a hand-out to the wealthy and well connected, and a get out of jail free card for universities that charge unjustifiably high tuition and fees.\u201d\n\n\u201cStudent debt cancellation would also exacerbate the rising inflation that is crushing working-class Americans\u2014the very people who would be responsible for bailing out college-educated Americans under this policy,\u201d Cotton continued.\n\nText of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nThe Honorable Miguel Cardona\n\nSecretary of Education\n\nDepartment of Education Building\n\n400 Maryland Ave, SW\n\nWashington, D.C. 20202\n\nDear Secretary Cardona,\n\nI write to demand transparency regarding the Biden administration\u2019s deliberations on cancelling over $1.5 trillion in student loan debt.\n\nLast April, the Department of Education\u2019s Office of General Counsel wrote an analysis of the legality of canceling debt via executive action entitled \u201cThe Secretary's Legal Authority for Broad-Based Debt Cancellation.\u201d Over a year later, the unredacted memorandum still has not been released to the public. I ask that you please send me a fully-unredacted copy of this legal memorandum by May 20, 2022.\n\nI\u2019m firmly opposed to student debt cancellation. It is an insult to the majority of Americans who chose not to attend college, a hand-out to the wealthy and well connected, and a get out of jail free card for universities that charge unjustifiably high tuition and fees. Student debt cancellation would also exacerbate the rising inflation that is crushing working-class Americans\u2014the very people who would be responsible for bailing out college-educated Americans under this policy. With such basic questions of justice and more than $1 trillion dollars at stake, Americans are entitled, at a minimum, to understand the legal justification for such an action.\n\nThank you for your attention to this important matter.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:29:07Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-demands-transparency-about-biden-plan-to-transfer-student-loan-debt-to-taxpayers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8423249237239361, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}