Rep. Mike Waltz told Newsmax that President Joe Biden has a "ridiculous" legal basis for his recent executive order that cancels up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt.
During a Wednesday interview on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," the Florida Republican outlined how the White House's justification for the sweeping change stems from a 19-year-old law that initially targeted a much narrower group.
"It's a 2003 law called the Heroes Act that was meant to benefit military members right after 9/11 and help them with their debt forgiveness. [It] clearly says that in the law," Waltz said.
"To use that now as a basis for this spending spree is a slap in the face to every veteran and to every working person who's paid off their debt," he added.
Waltz's statement comes hours after Biden announced the loan forgiveness plan, which includes up to $20,000 in debt cancelations for recipients of Pell grants.
The relief will apply only to individuals making under $125,000 per year and families earning less than $250,000 per year. According to the White House, that covers almost 20 million people — nearly 45% of borrowers.
"All of this means people can start to finally crawl out from under that mountain of debt, to get on top of their rent and their utilities, to finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business," the president said.
Waltz, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, also condemned the Kremlin in his Wednesday appearance for alleged human rights violations as Russia trudges deeper into Ukraine.
"This is the Russian way of war," Waltz said of reports that Russia is mistreating Ukrainian prisoners of war. "They've done it in Chechnya, Afghanistan, in Syria. They don't know the two words 'human rights.' They literally level cities."
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