Biden accused of using student loan forgiveness program to PAY pro-Palestine activists with taxpayer dollars as campus protests continue
- Protests against the Israel-Hamas war have erupted at colleges across the U.S.
- Biden has wiped out an additional $7.4 billion in debt for 277,000 students, bringing the total he has forgiven to $153 billion
- 'And to think Joe Biden and the Democrats want YOU to pay off these students’ loans,' House Republican Whip Tom Emmer said
- Read more about the ongoing anti-Israel protests at top U.S. universities
Republicans are blasting Biden's student loan forgiveness plan for providing millions of taxpayer dollars to the students wreaking havoc at anti-Israel protests nationwide.
Over 200 protestors have been arrested in the last week on the campuses of Columbia University and New York University (NYU) in connection to their aggressive campaigning against the Israel-Hamas war.
The protestors - who are demanding that the universities divest from Israeli entities and for an end to the war in Gaza - have set up camps chock-full of tents, makeshift food distribution areas, sleeping bags and anti-Israel signs.
Now, Republicans are using the protests as a cudgel to slam Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program, claiming that the president wants to pay the protestors' bills.
The GOP criticism comes weeks after Biden wiped out an additional $7.4 billion in debt for 277,000 borrowers, bringing the total he has forgiven to $153 billion.
'The Biden administration wants hardworking taxpayers to pay off the loans of these pro-terrorist antisemites, which in turn funds universities with multibillion-dollar endowments that are refusing to keep Jewish students safe,' House Republican Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told DailyMail.com in a statement.
NYPD officers face protestors after detaining demonstrators and clearing an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian students and protesters on the campus of New York University
'If the Biden administration cared about the dangerous wave of antisemitic violence on our college campuses, they would reverse their unconstitutional course and instead demand action from these broken institutions.'
'But they don’t care; the only thing that matters to Biden is appeasing his radical base,' Emmer added.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., posted a video of the Columbia University encampment showing tents and pro-Palestinian signs and banners on X, 'these are the people whose student loans Joe Biden wants you to pay off,' he wrote.
'Hamas butchered and burned Jews and their babies alive; their bodies paraded around in the streets,' Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., posted on X.
'Today in the US, we have entitled little Ivy League students terrorizing Jews on campus and their punishment? Student loans paid off by American taxpayers. Thanks Joe Biden.'
Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., similarly posted a video of Columbia protestors, writing 'Biden is making you pay for their student loans so they can do this on your dime.'
In total, 4.3 million federal student loan borrowers have seen student loan debt forgiven since Biden took office.
Current students at Columbia and NYU, though, are likely unable to qualify for Biden's recently announced debt forgiveness as it only applies to borrowers in specific cases.
For example, the most recent $7.4 billion in student loan forgiveness has stringent conditions, one of which requires most borrowers to prove they have already been paying off their debts for 10 to 25 years to qualify for relief.
Still, there may be narrow cases in which current students may qualify for the debt forgiveness.
At Columbia, the protests have turned violent and Jewish students at the universities have felt in danger as a result of the campus takeover.
The demonstration at the university have been so heated that the Ivy League institution announced it would carry out classes partially online for the remainder of the academic year.
Hundreds of arrests have occurred as a result of the protesting over the last week on college campuses.
Despite the mass arrests at NYU and Columbia, however, many if not all of those detained will not receive and criminal records, according to the New York Post. Instead, most will get summonses, which will not appear on a wrap sheet.
Police intervene and arrest more than 100 students at NYU who continue their demonstration on campus in solidarity with the students at Columbia University and to oppose Israel's attacks on Gaza
In total, over 200 protestors have been detained by NYPD in connection to campus activism
On Tuesday evening, an additional massive anti-Israel protests erupted outside of Senate Leader Chuck Schumer's New York home.
Notably, Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish federal official ever elected.
Over 200 anti-Israel demonstrators were taken into NYPD custody after they blocked the roads around the Senate leader's residence, impeding traffic.
Schumer has not spoken publicly about the protests targeting him yet, but did condemn the Columbia and NYU protests in a statement Sunday.
'College campuses must be places of learning and discussion,' he wrote.
'Every American has a right to protest, but when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line. Campuses must remain safe for all students.'
Schumer's office did not respond to a request for comment.
