Whereupon We Pontificate About Poor Media Outlet Choices

But here is the worst part of all: Biden’s plan is an act of stolen valor. He is claiming authority for student-loan forgiveness by invoking the 2003 Heroes Act — a law passed after the 9/11 attacks to support the men and women mobilized to fight terrorists and to make sure that they did not default because of their military service. The law explicitly states that it is designed to help the “hundreds of thousands of Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard reservists and members of the National Guard [who] have been called to active duty or active service” and asked to “put their lives on hold, leave their families, jobs, and postsecondary education in order to serve their country.” It authorizes the secretary of education to modify or forgive their postsecondary loans on a case-by-case basis “in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency, regardless of the location at which such active duty service is performed.” In 2007, when Congress made the Heroes Act permanent, it explicitly reiterated that it was acting to address “the unique situations that active duty military personnel and other affected individuals may face” (emphasis added).

Now Biden is using a law designed for active-duty service men and women as a pretext to provide loan forgiveness for those who never wore the uniform. Indeed, he is giving students who did not serve broader benefits than those who did. In so doing, he is effectively turning an entire generation of Americans into military impostors — receiving the benefits of military service they did not render. Imagine if he found a loophole in the GI bill to allow students who did not serve to obtain the same military scholarships as veterans. There would be widespread outrage. This is no different. The bill is called the Heroes Act for a reason. Americans who take out loans they can’t afford to repay are not heroes — and should not be treated as if they were.

It’s absolutely true that student loan forgiveness requires the legal trickery of relying on using a law not as it was originally intended, but to call it “stolen valor” is ridiculous on its face, yet also the sort of criticism that Republican voters might eat up.

superuberbob · August 31, 2022, 8:23am

Republicans complaining about Democrats using legal trickery is just chef’s kiss

Hell, Republicans aren’t even doing that a lot of time. They’re just straight up breaking laws.

pvn · August 31, 2022, 11:43am

mosdef · August 31, 2022, 12:11pm

Like all Republican talking points it’s just stupid word salad mumbo jumbo, but it is particularly funny to see them attack Biden for his lack of respect for the military (as they did after he withdrew from Afghanistan). Biden is a huge booster for the military, he’s personally responsible for a ton of pro-military PR and is actually one of the better passionate SUPPORT THE TROOPS public speakers in the Federal government. This is why you absolutely cannot beat Republicans by being Republican lite. They just pretend you’re a RADICAL SOCIALIST no matter what you actually do.

wirelessgrinder · August 31, 2022, 4:08pm

“Congress needs to start impeaching and removing presidents who knowingly violate the law. Biden watched the last two get away with it, so he thinks there are no consequences. At some point, there will have to be.”

CaffeineNeeded · August 31, 2022, 4:12pm

I ain’t logging in to read that

VoteForSocialists · August 31, 2022, 5:23pm

lol at thinking presidential overreach started with the previous two.
lol at writing that obama, the deporter in chief, stopped deportations.
lol at arguing that biden took 100 times more with student loans forgiveness than trmp did with $6.5b for his wall.

ViridianDreams · August 31, 2022, 6:02pm

Did HeritageNotHate take over your account?

Riverman · September 1, 2022, 9:23pm