South Cook News

Pekau for Congress has issued the following press release:

August 25, 2022 - Joe Biden is reportedly set to employ Title 42 - a post 9/11 law that allows for debt cancellation in connection with a war, military operation or a national emergency -  in order to forgive billions in student loan debt. What national emergency? According to a Department of Education memo: “The present COVID-19 pandemic,”  which directly contradicts the administration’s announcement of the end of Title 42 coronavirus protections at the southern border. 

Keith Pekau, a candidate for Congress (IL-06), issued the following statement in response: 

“The president can’t have it both ways. We can’t simultaneously have a pandemic so severe that no one needs to repay their student loans yet so mild that millions of largely unvaccinated illegal aliens can be allowed to enter our country unchecked for coronavirus.

“Aside from the clear legal issues with the president’s order, this policy is unfair and reckless on a number of levels. 

“The most obvious questions are: Is this fair to someone who worked and sacrificed for years to pay off their own loans? Is it fair to make someone who wasn’t able to afford college for themselves pay off the debt of someone who did go to college?  Is it fair for someone who decided not to go to college and chose work in another field, for example those in the trade unions, to pay off the debt for someone who made another choice? Of course not. 

“Like a lot of people, my wife and I worked hard to pay off our own loans. I understood the cost to get a degree that was needed for the career I chose to pursue.  I was willing to take on debt and the responsibility for paying that debt in order to get it. When my children were in school, they took out their own student loans. I knew if they were financially invested in their own education they would understand its value far better than if college had been a consequence-free joy-ride. 

“Finally, like creating tax breaks for luxury car buyers, the modern Democrat party’s elitism and detachment from the working class is on full display once again. Forgiving student loan debt disproportionately benefits those who receive graduate degrees and higher incomes. In fact, nearly a third of student loan debt is held by the top 20 percent of earners and 56 percent of student debt is held by households with graduate degrees. This bails out the wealthiest 20 percent of American households at the cost of everyone else. 

“It’s precisely these types of insane leftist policies that are the real cause of inflation. Again, Democrats can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to be for the little guy and continually use their power to benefit themselves, their political allies and the nation’s elites at the expense of the rest of the country. It’s time to send representatives to Congress who will put people over politics and end the deranged economic policies that are hurting hard working people and weakening America.”