As the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether President Joe Biden has the constitutional power to relieve many student debts, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., makes it clear she does not think he does, and that it is a bad idea anyway.
“I basically don’t think the president has the fiscal authority to do this without an act of Congress,” she said, which is the issue the Supreme Court will decide.
“I also think it’s not fair,” she said during a virtual press briefing last week. “If I had a child I had to work night and day for to put through college, I would not want to pay as a taxpayer for somebody else’s student debt relief.”
Capito said if debt relief could be focused on cases where it may be “breaking the backs” of people trying to repay the debt, people who may never be able to repay them, “I might take a look at that.”
“But the plan I see is debt relief for all up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation,” she said. “I don’t think it is fair to put that on the American public.”
Capito said when students signed on for the debt, they made a deal.
“We will see what the Supreme Court says,” she said. “That will be probably in June when we will have that decision.”
Capito also addressed the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
“I have been in constant contact with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the West Virginia DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and the water company in Huntington,” she said, because the water system could be affected by the plume of possible chemical from the crash and spill coming down the Ohio River.
She has also talked with executives at Norfolk Southern.
“We know from experience that chemical spills into the water are extremely alarming,” she said. “I think the situation and cleanup of this is something that will go on for years.”
But at this point, she said the levels are below detectable, but it may not stay that way.
She said the EPA administrator will provide updates.
“We are closely involved with this to make sure West Virginians in particular are safe,” she said, and officials monitoring the situation to make sure everyone is safe.
Capito also said a hearing may be set by the Committee on the Environment and Public Works, of which she is the ranking member, to hear from those impacted and what other issues surface.
“A big fish kill has been confirmed,” she said.
The Ohio Department of Environmental Protection would also be brought in as well as Norfolk Southern officials about the derailment and the safety in carrying of toxic chemicals, she added.