McConnell: Biden's free community college plan an 'endless' taxpayer-funded money pit

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell argued that President Biden's plan to offer free community college would result in tuition increases, describing the policy as an "endless" money pit.

Tuition-free community college is part of Biden's $1.8 trillion American Families Plan that Democrats in Congress are seeking to pass without GOP votes through budget reconciliation. 

"I would not be in favor of the federal government providing free community college tuition. Look, we now have a debt the size of our economy. We are playing Russian roulette with the American economy. Last year, we had a 100-year pandemic, understandable, an emergency," McConnell said on Monday during a news conference in Kentucky.

"The pandemic is essentially in the rear-view mirror and to continue to borrow and spend at this level is completely unacceptable for the future of this country. Tuition is going up all over the country and there are a lot of complex reasons that that's occurring but I don't think the federal government can afford to borrow enough money to provide free tuition," he said.

McConnell continued, saying, "Besides, what will the tuition be if they just keep raising the amount of money? It seems to me it's an endless pit into which you would fall."

The Kentucky Republican also said that Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shouldn't hold a bipartisan agreement on infrastructure hostage until all 50 Senate Democrats agree to a budget reconciliation spending bill to pass Biden's American Families Plan and other initiatives. 

“Republicans have been negotiating in bipartisan good faith to meet the real infrastructure needs of our nation. The president cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process," McConnell said in a statement on Monday.