Federal Agency Shows True Cost of Unvarnished Biden Agenda

With the 2022 primary season over, our gaze once again returns to Capitol Hill, where you can bet lawmakers will continue to scramble, posture and otherwise engage in unseemly politicking. Here's the latest news you need to know from the heart of the swamp!

Congressional Budget Office Releases Student Loan Forgiveness Estimate

The nonpartisan fiscal analysts at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their estimate of what President Biden's student loan forgiveness proposal would cost American taxpayers.

In a report titled “Costs of Suspending Student Loan Payments and Canceling Debt,” which was released yesterday, CBO has come up with an estimate of $400 billion.

The summary of the report states the following:

“The cost of student loans will increase by about an additional $400 billion in present value as a result of the action canceling up to $10,000 of debt issued on or before June 30, 2022, for borrowers with income below specified limits and an additional $10,000 for such borrowers who also received at least one Pell grant.”

This estimate is much higher than the White House's projection from last month of $24 billion per year and $240 billion over 10 years. It is, however, closely aligned with an estimate given by the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) which predicted the cost to be “between $440 billion and $600 billion over the next ten years, with a central estimate of roughly $500 billion.” The CRFB has also updated their estimate since the CBO's data was released, and their new estimate states that “the total cost of President Biden's announced changes will cost between $500 billion and $650 billion.” Notably, the CRFB also believes that the amount of student loan debt owned by Americans will return to current levels by 2028.

House Extends Remote Voting Past Election Day

One session week remains before members of Congress return to their districts for all of October to campaign for reelection.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued an electronic “Dear Colleague” letter last Friday informing members that she had extended remote voting through November 10th, arguing that “a public health emergency is in effect due to a novel coronavirus.”

Pelosi's letter also linked to a note from the House Sergeant at Arms dated September 19th, 2022, in which the sergeant said that a public health emergency remained in effect.

The Speaker's announcement had timing that closely followed an appearance by President Biden on “60 Minutes” earlier this month in which he declared the pandemic to be over.

Republicans have been using Democrats' decisions to vote remotely during the course of the pandemic as a campaign attack — during both the 2020 campaign cycle and this year in 2022 — although Democrats and Republicans in the House have both taken advantage of the policy.

One of the most prominent swing-seat Democrats who has used this to her advantage has been Cindy Axne of Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. She has been recently attacked by Iowa Republicans for using a remotely cast vote option to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act and hire 87,000 new IRS agents earlier this summer while she was on vacation in Europe. Axne's opponent Zach Nunn shared the Fox News exposé on Axne's travels on Twitter last week:

Senator Marshall Leads Call to End Biden's COVID-19 Emergency Declaration

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall — a Republican — announced last Thursday that he intends to lead GOP Senators in forcing a vote to end the COVID national emergency declaration in part due to President Biden's own statements in which he declared the pandemic to be over.

Senator Marshall told The Wall Street Journal that President Biden was “talking out of both sides of his mouth saying that the Covid pandemic is over with and yet he wants to continue these emergencies.”

Congressman Biggs Introduces “End Catch and Release” Bill

Arizona Republican Andy Biggs introduced the “Ending Catch and Release Act of 2022” last week, which is intended to “prohibit the Biden Administration from continuing to release illegal aliens into the country.”

In a press release issued by his office, Biggs shared the following sentiment:

“President Biden's Department of Homeland Security has long-abused our immigration system and its actions are facilitating a catastrophic border crisis. The Biden Administration has ended the successful policies of the Trump Administration that secured our border. Instead of building on those successful policies, the Biden Administration chose to reinstate failed catch and release policies that ignore the statutory requirement that illegal aliens be detained while their asylum claims are pending. Catch and release is incentivizing historic levels of illegal immigration, stretching Border Patrol resources thin, and making our communities unsafe. My legislation restores integrity in our immigration system by explicitly prohibiting DHS from paroling or otherwise releasing illegal aliens into the country. DHS can either detain the illegal alien or require them to remain outside the United States while their claim is pending. We must maintain operational control of the southern border and this legislation gets us closer to that,” said Congressman Andy Biggs.

Biggs will also be hosting a premiere of a documentary on illegal immigration titled “Alien Invasion” this week at the Heritage Foundation. According to a statement from Biggs' office, the “documentary addresses how President Biden's border crisis began, its consequences, and solutions to address the crisis.” Thursday's premiere will also feature a discussion on border security with former Trump administration immigration officials.

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