‘Pay your damn student loan!’: Charles Payne calls out ‘pampered elitists’ as Trump ends Biden admin giveaway
The Department of Education announced it would resume collections on delinquent student loans, ending a pause from the COVID-19 pandemic that the Biden administration sought to continue, The Hill reported. Payne expressed little sympathy for claims that forcing borrowers to repay student loans would cause them financial hardship.
“I’m thrilled. These are the most pampered elitists. The educated elite in this country have, I mean, it’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Payne told “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade. “You know, the jobs report came out on Friday. So, unemployment for someone with a bachelor’s degree? The unemployment level is 2.5%.”
“If you just have less than high school, it’s 6%. If you have high school, it’s 4%. Double the unemployment for high school grads, they make over million dollars more in a lifetime,” Payne continued. “Their kids live in better neighborhoods. They don’t face crime, poverty, worries or concerns, okay? There’s 7.2 million job openings right now. Take one! Take one! Oh, wasn’t what you studied for? Too bad, take one! That’s what the average person does!”
Despite a Supreme Court ruling that struck down an effort to forgive student loans in a 6-3 ruling in June 2023, then-President Joe Biden repeatedly attempted to continue forgiving the loans. In August 2024, the Supreme Court refused to lift an appeals court’s order blocking a Biden administration effort to forgive student loan debt, which it proposed following the 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down a different student debt forgiveness proposal from Biden.
