Nearly a decade ago, longtime Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey said he was against the federal government forgiving student loan debt, arguing there’s no “magic wand” to erase the outstanding bills.
Under the Biden administration, however, Casey flip-flopped on his position as student debt became a prominent platform for the Democratic Party.
“I think, in Pennsylvania, the average about 70% of students have debt that hovers around – and these are very much averages – a little more than $30,000, about $32,000. There’s probably some people who say, ‘My God, I wish I had 32, mine’s much higher,’” Casey told Penn State’s student newspaper, the Daily Collegian, in a video interview published in October 2014.
“There’s certainly people that have much higher numbers. And the federal government can’t come in and come up with a magic wand that will wipe away all debt. But there are some things we can do.”
Casey has long been a Pennsylvania Democrat stalwart, first winning election to the U.S. Senate in 2007. The Casey name also has deep roots in the state, with Bob Casey Sr., the senator’s father, serving as the Keystone State’s governor from 1987 to 1995 after years of serving in various other elected roles.
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This year, Casey is facing a highly anticipated and uphill battle to hold onto his seat as he prepares to face off against Republican challenger Dave McCormick at the polls in November.
Casey continued in his interview with the Daily Collegian in 2014 that it was unlikely to get student debt to “down to zero” for “everybody.”
He explained that there are likely “steps we can take to reduce that burden all the while trying to think of other ways to have a positive impact. But I don’t think this is a challenge we can legislate our way out of. I think if we pass our legislation, that will help. But I think colleges and universities have to continually focus on better ways to help students get through this. Not that you can reach a point where no student has any debt, getting everybody down to zero is probably highly unlikely.”
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In the years following, Casey changed his tune on student debt forgiveness as President Biden campaigned on eliminating college debt during the 2020 cycle and worked to erase debt for borrowers after he was sworn-in as president. Casey celebrated the Biden administration’s moves to erase debt, including in 2022.
“Today, President Biden eased the burden for millions of Americans who are struggling under the weight of their student debt,” Casey said in a press release in 2022, when Biden canceled $10,000 of student debt for people making less than $125,000 a year. “This will give them the freedom to invest in their future, buy a home, or take a risk and start a business. It’s an important first step forward in helping borrowers saddled with student debt. Moving forward, we must work to lower the skyrocketing costs of college so that future students are able to get an education without signing up for a lifetime of debt.”
Biden went on to propose a one-time student debt forgiveness program, which would have provided loan forgiveness of up to $20,000 to borrowers, but the plan was halted by the Supreme Court last year. The nation’s highest court ruled that Biden did not have the authority to eliminate such debt without Congress’ approval.
The Supreme Court ruling was no surprise as experts had warned ahead of the case landing before the court that Biden lacked the authority to make such a move, and even then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said more of the same in 2021.
“People think that the president of the United States has the power for [student loan] debt forgiveness. He does not,” Pelosi said during a July 2021 press conference.
As the plan was held up in court ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Casey and other Democrats in the Senate voted against a conservative-backed bill to overturn the Biden administration’s one-time student debt relief plan.
Casey’s Republican opponent, Dave McCormick, joined Fox Business on Tuesday and lambasted Casey as “weak” while brushing off a New York Times/Sienna College poll that found Casey has a 14-point lead in the race, saying other polls show a much tighter gap between the two.
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“The most important thing to remember here is that Kamala Harris is a San Francisco liberal that has an agenda to ban fracking, transition energy workers, mandatory buybacks of guns, legalized illegal immigration, and Bob Casey is a 98% vote for Biden-Harris. So, you have an agenda that’s truly out of step with the people of Pennsylvania. Bob Casey has been weak, and Bob Casey is going to support this liberal agenda. Pennsylvanians don’t want that,” McCormick said.
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