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Trump Plans To Go After 10 Million Student Loan Borrowers After You Vote
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Donald Trump's Treasury Department is getting ready to seize the tax refunds, Social Security checks and paychecks of nearly 10 million Americans who've defaulted on their student loans. And according to five sources who talked to The Washington Sun, they're not planning to announce it until after you vote.
Why wait? One source explained:
"It would be politically insane to do this before the midterms."
Politically insane. Not cruel. Not wrong. Just bad timing. They're not debating whether to mug you. They're debating whether to do it before or after you mail in your ballot.
Here's the plan. Private debt collectors could be hired as soon as November. Then the government grabs what it can: your tax refund, your earned income tax credit, your child tax credit, a chunk of your Social Security, and a slice of your paycheck straight from your employer. The target is the tax season ending April 15, 2027. So you file your taxes, wait for the refund you were going to use for rent, and find out Uncle Sam already cashed it.
And seniors are in the blast radius. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates about 452,000 borrowers 62 and older are in default and likely collecting Social Security. The government can take up to 15% of that check. Nothing says golden years like a debt collector in your retirement.
Now my favorite part. Last year, the White House budget office helped the Education Department get ready to start seizing benefits and wages. Treasury blocked it. And Treasury staff warned their bosses, quote, "This is not who you think it is. The demographics are not good for us."
Translation: oh no, it's our people.
And they're right. Protect Borrowers found about two-thirds of defaulted borrowers live in states Trump won. The AP found the highest default rates in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Turns out the guy drowning in student debt isn't a gender studies major in Brooklyn. He's in Biloxi.
It gets better. One economist told Common Dreams the people in default are "overwhelmingly people whose debts would have been erased" under the Biden debt relief that Republican-led states sued to block. So Republicans killed the relief, those folks fell behind, and now the same party wants to send the repo man. Are you fecking kidding me?
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rolled out something called the "Defaulted Loans Support Center" and called it "restoring fiscal responsibility." Responsibility. From the guys hiding the bill under the couch until the polls close. And one budget hawk says all this stalling has already cost taxpayers about $5 billion. Fiscal responsibility, everybody.
When the Sun asked the Education Department about all of this, it said, "We don't respond to fishing expeditions." Which is a bold thing to say right before you go fishing in somebody's paycheck.
And it's not just loans. Abortion, Every Day reports the White House is also waiting until after the midterms to go after abortion. They're not running on their agenda. They're hiding it in the trunk until you've voted, and what else is back there?
Politically insane is waiting until after the election to tell people you're taking their money. Politically sane is remembering that when you vote.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/trump-aides-plan-penalize-defaulting-student-loan-borrowers