Sen. Marsha Blackburn says forgiving all student loans would be a 'gift to the rich'

As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on President Biden's student loan forgiveness program, GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn said the high court allowing the federal government to proceed with the effort would be a "gift to the rich."

"Fewer than 15% of Americans hold student loan debt," Blackburn said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "And out of that number, 40% of those loans are held by high income earners such as PhDs, doctors, different physicians and lawyers. 10% of that is held by individuals that are lower income earners. So this really is what you would call a gift to the rich."

The two cases before the high court challenge whether Biden has the executive authority to forgive the debt – worth hundreds of billions of dollars – unilaterally and without congressional approval.

Blackburn and over 40 of her GOP Senate colleagues pushed back on Biden's student loan forgiveness plan in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court.

"What we are doing is pushing to make certain that the court remembers that there is a separation of powers and the executive branch does not have the authority to move forward in this manner," she said. 

Blackburn said she is hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule against the Biden administration.

"We are hopeful that the court will look at this and say that the executive branch does not have that authority to appropriate those funds and then designate these funds in that manner," Blackburn also said. "So the separation of power is the bigger overriding argument on this."