The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments through the end of August—and Jeanine Pirro is not happy about it.
The pause has been in place since the beginning of the pandemic and was set to expire May 1. While the administration acknowledged the strength of the economy compared with one year ago, “we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” Biden said in a statement.
Pirro, however, would prefer that students just “get a job, pay your darn loan, and be quiet.”
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“We have got 11.3 million job openings. Wages are on the rise—certainly not enough to keep up with inflation—but more than enough jobs for these people to get a job and pay back their student loans,” Pirro said on the Fox News roundtable show The Five.
“So the delay itself that Biden has granted—I don’t know if it is the fourth or the sixth—is costing the government $100 billion so far because nobody is making any payments.”
This indeed marks the fourth time the Biden administration has delayed the repayment date. As for how much that has cost the government, Pirro appears to be referencing a finding from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that opposes loan pauses and which estimates that they will cost an additional $50 billion annually going forward.
“Here’s the bottom line,” Pirro continued, addressing loan holders. “You have a contract. You have a contract with the person who loaned you that money. If you can’t pay it, that is your problem. Get a job like everyone else.”
The Fox News talker hit some of the same notes as GOP lawmakers upon hearing Wednesday’s news.
“You want to do a favor for people? I have an idea,” Pirro said, now speaking to the Biden administration. “Why don’t you do a favor for people like veterans who are committing suicide, who don’t have a home to live in… And then we have senior citizens who are living on a fixed income when inflation is higher than it’s been in 40 years.”
“So these lazy kids want to have their loans canceled? Nonsense. Pay your darn loan, get a job, and be quiet,” declared Pirro, who still has not paid nearly $600,000 stemming from her failed 2006 New York Senate bid—an amount her still-active campaign committee said she does not intend to repay.
Pirro’s committee also stopped filing legally required paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in 2012, The Daily Beast reported, despite being reminded to do so several times.
