President Joe Biden knows he has no authority to forgive student loan debt — a power endowed to Congress in the Constitution — but he is apparently willing to break the law to do it, according to Judge Andrew Napolitano on Newsmax.
"No, it is not legal and it is not constitutional," Napolitano told Thursday's "Eric Bolling The Balance.''"Nancy Pelosi herself — even a stopped clock, Eric, is right twice a day — Nancy Pelosi herself said a year ago to a press conference in the Capitol that only Congress can do this.
"The president can delay obligations, but he can't remove them, which require expenditure of funds. She's correct."
The power of the purse lies solely with Congress, by law in the Constitution, Napolitano told host Eric Bolling.
"Look, the banks have loaned this money, and the government has backed up the loans," he continued. "If the government is going to say to the receiver of the loans, forget about $10 or $20,000, the government still has to pay that money to the banks. That money cannot be spent without an expressed authorization by Congress.
"Joe Biden was in the Senate for 37 years. He knows this. He knows it's unconstitutional."
But Napolitano declared that votes in the midterm elections mean more to Biden than following the law.
"This is nothing but a giveaway intended to draw votes for Democrats in the midterm elections," according to Napolitano.
Republicans could retake the majority in Congress and pass legislation to unwind Biden's student loan debt forgiveness, but Biden would still have veto power.
"The Constitution is quite specific: Only Congress can spend money," Napolitano added. "Now, Congress has given slush funds to the president — not just to this president, but to all post-World War II presidents — but there's no slush fund here.
"He can't spend a nickel of federal dollars to pay back the forgiven parts of those loans without legislation from the Congress — and there is no appetite in the Congress to give him that."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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