I address here the problems with trying to claim that Scripture or theology compels Christians to support student debt relief but don’t get into the details of policy as such because I want that site to be free of purely political discussion. Below, I’ll give my thoughts on the policy itself.
Now I lean libertarian on many issues, so it might surprise some people when I say that I am not against partial student debt relief itself. However, that doesn’t mean I think what the president did was good or that his messaging makes any sense. I think his move has three major problems: Process, timing, and root issues.
Bad Process
Quite frankly, the president does not have the authority to unilaterally lessen or cancel student loans (or at least, he shouldn’t have the authority if one reads our current laws with any sort of plausibility). This was something even Nancy Pelosi adamantly said not too long ago when Biden was facing criticism from left-wingers that he hadn’t dealt with the student debt problem yet, and it is a bit entertaining, though not surprising, that she has now changed her tune. The administration is trying to ground his authority to do this on the pandemic and the updated Heroes Act, which is flimsy at best.
As I have argued many times before, process matters and wise people take it into account, not just results. You may like the results of the president’s action, but if you’re wise, you should be concerned about how he did it because then he, or someone else, can just unilaterally wave his magic wand and do things you don’t agree with. If the country was going to do this at all, then debt relief needs to go through Congress, as dysfunctional as it is.
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