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Biden-Harris admin rolls out another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts

Biden-Harris admin rolls out another .28 billion in student loan handouts

The Biden administration announced another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as President Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to leave the White House. The massive loan handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness. “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release on Friday. The action brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers. HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL “With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers,” Cardona said. “The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people.” The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an “incentive” for public servants to “pursue and remain” in their careers by forgiving borrowers’ remaining balance after they made the 120 qualifying monthly payments. DAD WHO SACRIFICED HIS SAVINGS TO PAY FOR SON’S COLLEGE CALLS STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS A ‘BITTER PILL’  “The relief announced today includes both borrowers who have benefitted from the Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration,” the release said. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to forgive student loans for millions of Americans if elected, but the president has faced continuous legal roadblocks in his attempt to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s first attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch’s authority under the Constitution, the president and his team began to work on other options to provide handouts. President-elect Trump has not said specifically how he will approach the Biden administration’s student loan handout plans, but he has said he plans to rework the entire education system during his term. Fox News Digital’s Audrie Spady contributed to this report.

Mahakumbh: Know the myth behind it and why it’s a symbol of purity

Mahakumbh: Know the myth behind it and why it’s a symbol of purity

The Mahakumbh, world’s largest congregation of pilgrims, holds cultural and spiritual significance for crores of devotees as it takes place at the confluence of sacred rivers-Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati. Taking dips in the holy waters of Ganga and Yamuna and attending arti, devotees im

Top DOGE senator to demand lame-duck Biden agencies halt costly telework talks, citing voter mandate

Top DOGE senator to demand lame-duck Biden agencies halt costly telework talks, citing voter mandate

The Senate’s top DOGE Republican will send 24 letters – one to each major federal agency head – demanding a halt to last-minute work-from-home negotiations before President Biden returns to Delaware. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, made the demand days after crafting legislation for 2025 that would “decentralize” and relocate one-third of the federal workforce outside Washington, D.C. That bill’s lengthy acronym spells out “DRAIN THE SWAMP Act.” Ernst said that not a single government agency’s office space is half-occupied two-plus years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, and she previously called for the Biden administration to sell off unused real estate for taxpayers’ benefit. DOGE CAUCUS LEADER ERNST EYES RELOCATION OUT OF DC FOR ONE-THIRD OF FEDERAL WORKERS In her letters, Ernst laid out that 90% of telework-eligible federal employees are still working from home and only 6% report they are working on a “full-time basis.”  Additionally, she wrote that public-sector unions are purportedly “dictating personnel policy” without regard to federal directives from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is running up a massive tab and leading to wastes of time, space and money. “The union bosses are rushing to lock in last minute, lavish long-term deals with the lame-duck Biden administration—extending beyond President Trump’s next term in office—guaranteeing that bureaucrats can stay at home for another four years or longer,” Ernst wrote in one letter prepped for Office of Personnel Management director Robert Shriver III. “Apparently, protecting telework perks for public employees is a higher priority than showing up to serve American taxpayers,” she wrote, calling Biden’s submission to union demands “shocking and unacceptable.” She noted it was a similarly liberal president who vociferously opposed unionization of public employees in the first place, as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt wrote in a letter to a union steward declining a 1937 invitation to a national federal employee union convention. “All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt said. TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES “It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations.” “The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress.” Ernst suggested federal workers and their union representatives have forgotten Roosevelt’s warning, citing the last-minute push to ratify collective bargaining agreements and telework privilege pacts before President-elect Donald Trump can begin his oversight endeavors through DOGE. Ernst pointed out situations she said show union bosses and career agency management have the “government wrapped around their finger.” In the letters, she embedded a photo of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley while he was serving as Biden’s Social Security Administration chief and who was wearing a Captain America T-shirt alongside a purported union official at a party. Ernst cited news reports of O’Malley going to Florida to party with union members before endorsing a contract preventing easy reduction of work-from-home ability. She said O’Malley spent the trip “crooning” Irish ballads on his guitar and drinking alcohol. “This buddy-buddy relationship between the Social Security Commissioner and the union bosses representing his workforce during what is supposed to be a negotiation resulted in a contract unbelievably slanted towards the union and against the interests of taxpayers and the mission of the agency,” she said. In another case, she pointed to Housing & Urban Development employees who may not have deserved the TFUT or “taxpayer-funded union time” they filed for. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP One such worker successfully claimed compensation while in jail. Ernst demanded the agencies report data on TFUT claims and payouts, unused or underused real estate holdings designated for use through collective bargaining, and any cases of each agency permitting unions or their employees to use department property at a discount or for free. “Giving bureaucrats another four-year vacation from the office is unacceptable. Bureaucrats have had enough gap years—it’s time to get them back to work,” she said. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

Here’s a list of the 38 Republicans who defied Trump by voting ‘no’ on the failed spending bill

Here’s a list of the 38 Republicans who defied Trump by voting ‘no’ on the failed spending bill

A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night, pushing Congress closer to a government shutdown.  The bill, which had won the approval of President-elect Donald Trump, still lost the approval of 38 Republicans.  The deal roundly lost 235 to 174, scoring only 2 Democratic ‘yes’ votes and 197 Democratic nos.  It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion. The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor. ‘HELL NO’: HOUSE DEMS ERUPT OVER GOP SPENDING DEAL Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for. It also included $110 billion in disaster relief and a farm bill extension.  “Why would we give Joe Biden more money this late in his administration?” said Rep. Bob Good, D-Va., after the vote. “The money intended for disaster victims should have been paid for, there should have been offsets.  The Democrats who voted ‘yes’ on the legislation were Reps. Kathy Castor, Fla., and Marie Gleusenkamp Perez, Wash.  Here’s a list of all the Republicans who voted ‘no’ on the legislation:  Rep. Aaron Bean, Fla.  Rep. Andy Biggs, Ariz. Rep. Josh Brecheen, Okla. Rep. Tim Burchett, Tenn. Rep. Eric Burlison, Mo. Rep. Kat Cammack, Fla.  Rep. Michael Cloud, Texas Rep. Andrew Clyde, Va. Rep. Eli Crane, Ariz.  Rep. John Curtis, Utah  Rep. Jeff Duncan, S.C.  Rep. Russ Fulcher, Idaho Rep. Bob Good, Va.  Rep. Paul Gosar, Ariz.  Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colo. Rep. Debbie Lesko, Ariz.  Rep. Nancy Mace, S.C.  Rep. Thomas Massie, Ky.  Rep. Rich McCormick, Ga.  Rep. Corey Mills, Fla.  Rep. Alex Mooney, W. Va.  Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C.  Rep. Scott Perry, Pa.  Rep. Chip Roy, Texas  Rep. David Schweikert, Ariz.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Keith Self, Texas  Rep. Victoria Spartz, Ind.  Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wis.  Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Texas