How to Spell Hypocrite: Ask These Six Republicans in the House They Are Big Ones

Top (L-R) Reps: Taylor Greene; Buchanan; Mullin; Hern; Kelly; and Gaetz

Six hypocrite GOP members of the House voted “No” on the student loan forgiveness and yet they took PPP money for their loan forgiveness. 

The White House has called them out.

This story is from CBS News and numerous other sites with this headline:

“White House calls out Republicans who criticized student loan cancellation but had thousands in PPP loans forgiven”

Hypocrite #1: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who went on NewsMax to talk about the Biden forgiveness plan basically saying that forgiving student loans isn't fair for those who didn't go to college saying: “For our government just to say, 'OK, well your debt is completely forgiven' ... it's completely unfair. Taxpayers all over the country, taxpayers that never took out a student loan, taxpayers that pay their bills and maybe even never went to college and are just hardworking people, they shouldn't have to pay off the great big student loan debt for some college student that piled up massive debt going to some Ivy League school. That's not fair.” 

Then the White House called her out as well as five others (pictured above) who all benefited from their own loan forgiveness through the “Paycheck Protection Program” (PPP). See the details below.

Recall that the PPP loans were given out earlier in the COVID pandemic to help businesses keep their workforce employed. The program ended on May 31, 2021. It allowed borrowers to have their loans forgiven depending on their employees and their compensation levels and how the loan money was spent.

The program was sometimes plagued by fraud.  For example, one study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that the program cost taxpayers $4 for every $1 of wages and benefits that workers who had their jobs “saved by the program received.” 

According to the White House, Greene and the others benefited heavily from this loan forgiveness, saying that Taylor Greene received $183,504 from the PPP.

Hypocrite #2: Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) said in a tweet that he was a “blue-collar kid who worked his way through college,” adding: “I know firsthand the sacrifices people make to receive an education. Biden's reckless, unilateral student loan giveaway is unfair to the 87% of Americans without student loan debt and those who played by the rules.”

The White House pointed out that Buchanan had more than $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven. 

Hypocrite #3: GOP Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said:  “Farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and teachers in his state don't need to be paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S.”

The White House said Mullin had more than $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven.

Hypocrites #4, #5, and #6: Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK); Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA); and, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) all had PPP loans forgiven: Hern had $1 million forgiven. Kelly had $987,000 forgiven. Gaetz had $482,000 forgiven.

Those amounts also according to the White House.

President Biden's plan and the criticism that followed comes as the cost of college continues on its upward trend. 

According to College Board, tuition has increased across essentially all higher education settings in the U.S. since the early 1990’s.

1. Public two-year schools had the lowest increase, from $2,310 in the 1991-92 year to $3,800 in 2021-22.

2. Public four-year schools saw an average increase from $4,160 to $10,740 during that time frame. 

3. Four-year private nonprofits, however, showed the steepest increase: from $19,360 in 1991 to $38,070 in 2021. 

4. From 2010-11 to 2020-21, federal aid decreased by 32%, accounting for inflation.

5. Pell Grants declined by 39% during that time and veterans' benefits declined by 3%. 

President Biden directly addressed Congressional Republicans who voted against the forgiveness plan saying in his tweet: “I will never apologize for helping America's middle class. And especially I will not apologize to the same folks who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and giant corporations (in 2017) that racked up our deficit that followed.”

My 2 Cents: Wow – what a great story, and 100% routine GOP BS, right? Yep, right.

This student loan forgiveness is great and sorely needed (I know as it involves my own son) and for so many others – that is a fact. 

Shame on the GOP for not supporting it and yet taking a whole lot more under the PPP for their own loan forgiveness. Again, shame on them.

Thanks for stopping by.