Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) our November 2021 Porker of the Month for pressuring President Joe Biden to cancel student loan debt.

Taking to Instagram, Rep Ocasio-Cortez wrote “I think given how much BBB has been slashed there is more opportunity than ever to bring the heat on Biden to cancel student loan debt. He doesn’t need Manchin’s permission for that and now that his agenda is thinly sliced, he needs to step up his executive action game and show commitment to deliver for his people.” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez thinks spending less for President Biden’s Build Back Better Act (BBB) means that more should go to pay off student loans. She wants $50,000 of student loan debt cancelled, which would be a slap in the face to every American who has paid off student loan debt without government assistance. Taking out a student loan is voluntary, and most students benefit from a college degree with higher lifetime wages and better jobs. Most of the $1.2 trillion cost of cancelling student loans would go to the wealthiest borrowers and their families.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Rep. Ocasio-Cortez should be ashamed of herself. While the BBB was scaled back, it’s still chock full of wasteful spending and will put a huge burden on taxpayers. Even President Biden admitted cancelling student loan debt would require a tax increase. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez wants everything to be “free,” but the government can only spend money that it takes from taxpayers. Cancelling student loans would be unfair to everyone who paid off their loans and everyone who never went to college. Americans who have paid off their own student loans and worked hard to pay for their own or their children’s college education should not be forced to pay again for others to attend college debt-free. For pushing a costly and inequitable idea, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was an easy choice for CAGW’s November Porker of the Month.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.

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