Schumer blasts Senate GOP after failed attempt to stop student debt relief: 'The hypocrisy is glaring'

Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican effort to block President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan largely on party lines late Wednesday night. USA Today reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) called the vote "a real victory for our young people and for the future of America." However, Schumer also tore into Senate Republicans for their vote against the measure.

"[Republicans] are actively trying to block relief that would immediately improve the lives of so many working Americans," Schumer said in a public statement posted to his website. "The hypocrisy is glaring: Republicans are willing to give huge tax breaks to ultra-wealthy billionaires and large corporations, but when it comes to helping working families, Republicans refuse to give them a break."

"They say that costs too much money, but billionaire tax breaks don't? Give me a break," he added.

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The Senate voted 50-49 to defeat Republicans' effort to halt Biden's "Saving on A Valuable Education" (SAVE) income-driven student debt repayment plan late Wednesday night, with retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) being the only Democrat to join the Republican opposition. The SAVE program — which already has 5.5 million borrowers enrolled — caps interest rates for student debtors, and ties student debt payments to the lower portion of a borrower's adjusted gross income. For lower-income borrowers, monthly payments are set to $0.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who voted with his Democratic colleagues, said he supports the SAVE program but has encouraged the Biden administration to go further on tackling student debt. Sanders ran on full student debt cancellation as a presidential candidate in both 2016 and 2020.

"We have hundreds of thousands of bright young people who have the ability to get a college degree or to get a good trade certificate, but they cannot afford to do so," Sanders said during Senate floor debate. "How absurd is that?"

In 2022, Biden issued an executive order canceling up to $20,000 in federal student debt per borrower, which erased the debt burdens of approximately 20 million student debtors. However, the six-member conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court blocked Biden's debt relief plan following a lawsuit by Republican attorneys general. The SAVE program is considered one of Biden's "Plan B" solutions following the Supreme Court's decision.

READ MORE: 'Outrageous': Education Secretary blasts House Republicans who benefited from student debt relief