Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio criticized Democratic President Joe Biden's plan to forgive some student loan debt, saying if people want to pay off their student loans they can do what he did.
Write a book.
Asked by Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade if a politician can be “successful” and “tell people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps," Rubio responded he did it by winning a Senate race and then writing a book that earned him enough money to pay off a staggering amount of student loan debt.
You can hear what Rubio said in the video below.
Rubio said:
"I've talked about the fact that we need to reform student loans. I owed over $100,000 in student loans."
"The day I got elected to the Senate I had over $100,000 still in student loans that I was able to pay off because I wrote a book and from that money I was able to pay it."
"If not, I'd still be paying it."
Making a living as an author is not easy and even the most famous and best-selling authors do not make money from writing alone.
Many authors also teach English and writing courses at the high school or university level or have other conventional careers that pay the bills while they take time to hone their craft.
Writing takes determination, perseverance, talent and writing a bestseller requires a combination of luck and great connections—which many people lack.
Rubio's remarks were almost immediately criticized for being out of touch with working class people, many of whom lack the time and money to run for the Senate—let alone write a book.
Rubio is facing off against Democrat Representative Val Demings in Florida's Senate race this November.
Rubio claimed Demings doesn't actually spend time in Washington and instead chooses to vote from home in "her pajamas," conveniently ignoring he has one of the worst attendance records in the Senate.
Rubio joined a chorus of Republicans who criticized Biden's student debt relief plan, arguing student loan forgiveness would only shift billions of dollars of debt to taxpayers and deal a blow to the economy. That claim runs counter to data from economists who've noted student debt cancellations would only boost Americans' purchasing power.
Biden's decision has been hailed for helping borrowers with lower credit scores and opening up the opportunity for millions of people to catch up on rent and utility bills as well as save money that would have otherwise gone to their student loans.
The plan forgives $10,000 - $20,000 for individuals making less than $125,000, or couples making less than $250,000.
According to the White House, the overwhelming majority of student loan relief will benefit those earning less than $75,000 a year, and no one in the top five percent of wage earners will benefit from the plan.
In his remarks while announcing the decision, Biden said canceling some debt would allow many people to:
"...finally crawl out from under that mountain of debt to get on top of their rent and utilities, to finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business."
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