Funding Deadline, Biden’s Impeachment, and Student Loans
Hello everyone and welcome back to another week of Politics Explained. We hope everyone had a very enjoyable Presidents’ weekend and got to celebrate the holiday! If you’re new, we publish short and concise blogs every Friday that recap the happenings of Capitol Hill. This week there are more concerns about the government shutdown, Biden’s impeachment falling short, and Biden paying off student loans. Just a reminder, if you want to continue to stay updated throughout the week, go checkout our instagram @politicsexplained1776! Now let’s dive right into the blog!
Earlier this week, Alexander Smirnov, the lead FBI informant on the Joe Biden case, was indicted* for lying about bribery allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden. Smirnov in an earlier statement stated that Joe and Hunter Biden received millions of dollars in bribes from a Ukrainian company. This was a bombshell, as the majority of the impeachment inquiry was reliant on these pieces of evidence against President Biden. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that this lie did not change the “fundamental facts” about Biden’s dealings with Ukraine. GOP’s leading person in the inquiry and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has already acknowledged that his party may not call for an impeachment vote. Also earlier today, Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, had a closed door interview with investigators and stated that the President never had any involvement in his family's business activities.
Next, we have an impending funding deadline that the government needs to pass. On March 1st, half of the government will shut down unless a spending bill is passed. The government has had this problem 3 times already this fiscal year and this will be the 4th time. The other half of the government is set to shut down on March 8th. News reports have stated that behind closed doors, Republicans have shifted from being optimistic of passing the bill to expecting a government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) might have to side with the Democrats to try and pass this bill requiring ⅔ of the House to pass. In October, this same thing happened with Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who was then ousted after far right Republicans were not pleased with what he did. If no legislation is passed by April 30th, then 1% of all government spending (except for DoD) will be cut. The government is back in session next week and will only have a few days to try and pass some funding legislation.
This past Wednesday President Biden announced the cancellation of another $1.2 billion dollars in student debt. This adds on to the total amount of $138 billion in student debt forgiven. Biden’s initial plan was to cancel upwards of $400 billion for around 43 million borrowers, but the Supreme Court knocked that down. Instead, Biden’s been chipping away at his promise to fight the debt crisis in America by moving forward little by little. This all ties into a struggle that President Biden’s been facing in his approval rates, as many Americans are not aware of the accomplishments he’s made and find themselves dissatisfied with the administration. Making big promises in the beginning of his presidency, President Biden has been able to follow up on a good amount of them with unemployment rates at record lows, falling inflation, and, of course, relieving Americans of their debt.
*Definition of the Week (Indicted): Being accused or charged with a serious crime.
