White House Twitter account calls out politicians who had PPP loans forgiven and are complaining about student debt forgiveness

Some critics of President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive $10,000 of federal student loan debt are getting called out by the White House’s Twitter account.

Biden announced on Wednesday a plan by the federal government to forgive $10,000 of federal student loan debt, and an additional $10,000 for Pell grant recipients, for borrowers earning less than $125,000.

The Biden administration claims the move will provide relief to an estimated 43 million people and that nearly half of those borrowers will see their student debts fully canceled.

However, not everyone thought the plan was a good idea.

“It’s completely unfair,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “Taxpayers that never took out a student loan, taxpayers that pay their bills and maybe never went to college and are just hard working people, they shouldn’t have to pay off the great big student loan debt for some college student.”

But the White House reminded the congresswoman she had $183,504 in Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven, which were given out from the U.S. Small Business Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The White House also called out Rep. Vern Buchanan for having over $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven, Rep. Markwayne Mullin for having over $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven and Rep. Kevin Hern for having over $1 million in PPP loans forgiven.

“Asking plumbers and carpenters to pay off the loans of Wall Street advisors and lawyers isn’t just unfair. It’s also bad policy,” Rep. Mike Kelly tweeted.

So, the White House quote tweeted him stating Kelly had $987,237 in PPP loans forgiven.

Finally, the White House called out Matt Gaetz for having $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven.

The tweets received hundreds of thousands of retweets and replies.

“Literally, whoever is in charge of the White House account needs an immediate promotion and raise! This is priceless,” one person tweeted.

Other’s weren’t as happy.

“I assume the White House will make sure every single person getting a tuition bailout will be publicly named,” another person tweeted.

The Center for American Progress tweeted out a longer list of Republican congress members who had PPP loans forgiven.

Some also questioned if it was a violation of the Hatch Act.

“How is this not a Hatch Act violation,” Sebastian Gorka, a former deputy assistant to President Trump, tweeted.

“Is stating objective facts a Hatch Act violation? I know republicans think truth is political,” a Twitter user responded to Gorka.

The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits most White House and cabinet officials from using federal resources — including official appearances or social media pages — to campaign for a candidate or party, or to bash an opponent.

In a 2021 report, the Office of Special Counsel cited at least 13 senior officials for abusing their authority by politicking for President Donald Trump, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, a watchdog and advocacy group that has long tracked Hatch Act violations, previously told MassLive that officials can use federal resources to highlight administration policy — but they can’t use their position and influence to denigrate opponents or pitch their candidate to the public.

Rep. Mullen responded to the White House’s tweet.

“Another ignorant attack from a career politician who has never created a single job,” he wrote. “74 days before midterms, Joe Biden is targeting business owners for protecting their employees from government lockdowns. President Trump always supported American workers and job creators.”

Some Twitter users responded to Mullen asking if he was going to pay back the loan.

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