Ron DeSantis calls for student loans to be backed by universities and NOT taxpayers as Biden wipes $132 BILLION in debt

• DeSantis called for student loans to be backed by universities instead of taxpayers during the Fourth Republican Presidential Debate
• The Florida Governor said that he doesn’t support a ‘truck driver paying a student loan’ on the debate stage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• His calls came just hours after Biden forgave another $4.8 billion of student debt – bringing the grand total to a whopping $132 billion 

Ron DeSantis said that universities are responsible for student loans – not taxpayers – as President Biden forgave another $4.8 billion in student debt earlier today, bringing his total debt relief to $132 billion.

During the Fourth Republican Presidential Debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, DeSantis  vowed to ‘get the inflation down and the interest rates down’ which he plans to accomplish by ‘vetoing a lot’, if elected. 

The Republican candidate told the audience that ‘student loans are going to be backed by universities’ and not taxpayers.

‘I don’t support having a truck driver paying a student loan that got a degree in gender studies, that’s wrong, but I’m going to get to the root cause of the problem,’ DeSantis said.

DeSantis’ demands for university-backed student loans comes just hours after Biden cancelled another $4.8 billion of student debt – despite the Supreme Court having struck down his plan to cancel $400 billion in debt in June.

In June – the justices ruled 6-3 Biden’s controversial plan to wipe out debts for 26 million Americans at taxpayers’ expense was unconstitutional and an overreach of his executive power.

Biden’s latest move will benefit 80,000 people including public sector workers and those who have been paying back loans for at least 20 years.

The President said: ‘In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.

‘From day one of my administration I vowed to improve the student loan system so that a higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity – not unmanageable burdens of student loan debt.’

He added: ‘I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.’

Biden’s headstrong push for the relief program coincides with the looming 2024 election and desire to get young voters on board.

A White House spokesperson said: ‘The president is committed to fighting for hardworking American families, making sure we get them a little more breathing room, and allowing them to support themselves and their families.’

DeSantis spoke out in July rejecting Democratic ideals to forgive student loans, but said the system needs to be reformed to help Americans financially.

‘I think the university should be responsible for the student debt,’ he insisted. ‘You produce somebody that can be successful, they pay off their loans, great. If you don’t, then you’re going to be on the hook.’

DeSantis’s fellow Republicans shared his disagreement with Biden’s loan forgiveness, Speaker Mike Johnson said: ‘The Biden Administration’s latest student debt transfer does not ‘cancel’ or ‘forgive’ a penny of student loan debt. 

‘Instead, President Biden is once again asking hard-working taxpayers to foot the bill for the loans of well-off graduates. This is not only unfair, it is wrong.’

Tonight’s debate saw the return of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly who re-appeared as a debate moderator eight years after her infamous 2015 confrontation with Trump when she challenged him on ‘misogynist’ comments.

Kelly and her fellow moderators – Elizabeth Vargas and Eliana Johnson – probed the remaining candidates about abortion, climate change, terrorist threats and more. 

Only four Republican presidential hopefuls remain on the debate stage – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The early front-runner for the GOP nomination, former President Donald Trump, held a fundraiser in Florida instead. 

The remaining candidates hit the ground running with DeSantis using his first remarks of the night to accuse Haley of supporting ‘child mutilation’ with past comments not condemning sex change surgeries for minors.

And Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old millionaire biotech entrepreneur, said Haley left South Carolina ‘bankrupt’ after her stint as governor and sold out to corporations in order to rise to millionaire status – including by serving on the board of Boeing.

‘We weren’t bankrupt when I left the UN. We’re people of service – my husband is in the military and I served our country as U.N. ambassador and governor,’ Haley shot back. ‘It may be bankrupt to him, but it certainly wasn’t bankrupt to us.’

But Haley said the bigger issue is that her competitors on stage are ‘jealous’ because they want the donors who are backing her candidacy to pump their money into their campaigns.

‘In terms of these donors that are supporting me, they’re just jealous,’ Haley said. ‘They wish that they were supporting them.’

Gov. Christie didn’t get a chance to speak until 17 minutes into the debate as DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy bickered.