Biden Administration Admits CBO Was Basically Right about Cost of Student-Debt Decree

For all its consternation about how the Congressional Budget Office was overstating the costs of its student-loan plan, the Biden administration has now put out its own cost estimate, and it says roughly the same thing.

On Monday, the CBO estimated that the illegal student-debt decree would cost $400 billion. The Washington Post reported that administration officials were downplaying that estimate. They argued the CBO should look at it over a different time span, and that the CBO overestimated the number of people who will take advantage of the program. They said the true cost would be below $300 billion, according to the Post.

The Department of Education’s estimate is out today, and it says the program will cost . . . $379 billion. The administration thinks 81 percent of eligible borrowers will take advantage of the program; the CBO thought 90 percent would.

All in all, we’re talking about roughly the same cost from both estimates. So much for the CBO’s being biased.

It should be said that it’s very difficult to make a cost estimate for a program that exists only through a concatenation of general counsel’s opinions, press releases, and website updates. As we’ve learned this week, every part of the program is negotiable in response to legal challenges.

The administration is seeking to dodge lawsuits by changing the program to deny legal standing to any potential plaintiff. The most recent change would exclude millions of borrowers from the program, out of fears that including them would allow private banks to bring lawsuits to block it.

The only reason the administration is in this predicament is that it has pursued an illegal and unconstitutional action that it knew was illegal and unconstitutional. It can’t escape the facts: It has authorized a massive increase in the deficit with no congressional approval, and no court, if given the chance to rule on it, will uphold its actions.