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Dem mayor’s public display of gratitude to Biden over student loans lands with a thud

June 5, 2024 | | Print Article

A Democrat mayor in Minnesota stepped on a rake when he tried to express his gratitude to President Joe Biden for canceling his student debt.

Melvin Carter, the first African-American mayor of the City of Saint Paul, was happy to share the news that he now had a zero balance on his student loan payment account. Carter thanked Biden in a post that included a clip of the president boasting about how he got around a Supreme Court decision that blocked his student loan bailout program.

“Thank you, Mr. President!” the mayor wrote, showing off an image of his Mohela loan account with a zero balance.

“The Supreme Court tried to block me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me. I’ve relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I’m going to keep going,” read Biden’s post that was included with Carter’s message.

“A significant number of Black voters. So you can chase your dreams, start a family, buy your first home, start a business and so much more,” the president said.

But Carter’s celebratory post landed with a thud as social media users raked him over the coals for getting a bailout when he earned over $130,000 as mayor. In 2021, Carter earned an annual salary of $132,208 according to public records, reported GovSalaries.com which noted that this was 3% “higher than the average Mayor salary in the state of Minnesota.”

Some online users reacting to Carter’s post blasted him for his $170,000 salary and the fact that those making less than him were now on the hook for his student debt.

Carter, who recently spoke out about having a “moral mandate” against gun violence, has been mayor of Saint Paul since 2018, long before Biden circumvented the nation’s high court with his bailouts.

Fox News noted:

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that federal law does not allow Biden’s secretary of education to cancel more than $430 billion in student loan debt. Biden promised at the time that his administration would continue to push for his student debt relief plan.

In February, he announced that Savings on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan that cancels debt for enrolled borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 10 years and hold $12,000 or less in student loan debt. Those with larger debts will receive relief after an additional year of payments for every additional $1,000 they borrowed.

Just last month, the administration announced the cancelation of student debt for 160,000 more people, bringing the total number of those getting handouts to 4.75 million.

“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity. I will never stop working to cancel student debt – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” Biden declared in a statement.

Americans forced to pay for these debt bailouts have made it clear they don’t approve and Carter’s tone-deaf post about his own student loan burned many on social media.

 

Frieda Powers
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