Post Politics Now: Biden to step back onto the campaign trail in Maryland
Post Politics Now: Biden to step back onto the campaign trail in Maryland The Washington Post


Today, President Biden is stepping onto the campaign trail with a planned rally in Rockville, Md., hosted by the Democratic National Committee. The event comes as once-dreary prospects for Democrats appear to be improving in the upcoming midterm elections. The rally will offer Biden a chance to tout recent legislative successes and frame the choice voters face in November.
Meanwhile, Biden had a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reaffirm U.S. support a day after announcing a new military aid package. On Wednesday, Biden also made good on a controversial campaign promise to cancel a portion of the education debt held by millions of Americans. Expect to hear about student loans at Thursday’s rally as well.
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Noted: Republicans criticized Biden’s loan-forgiveness plan. The White House brought receipts to its clap-back.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), speaking to conservative outlet NewsMax, said it was “completely unfair” for Biden to forgive some student debt.
“Taxpayers that paid their bills … they shouldn’t have to pay off the great big student loan debt for some college student,” Greene said.
The White House then, on Twitter, reminded Greene that she had $183,504 in Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven.
The tweet, which quickly went viral, shows that Biden and his team appear ready to more aggressively approach Republicans’ criticism as the midterms approach.
And it wasn’t the only one.
In a thread, the White House retweeted complaints Republicans — including Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — made about Biden’s plan to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 in student loan debt for some. Along with the retweets, the White House noted the hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt these Republicans were forgiven through PPP. Kelly — who accused Biden of making plumbers “pay off the loans” of Wall Street advisers — was forgiven $987,237 in loans; Buchanan — who called Biden “reckless” — $2.3 million; and Mullin — who is running for the Senate and said Oklahomans would pay the debts of “Ivy League lawyers” — $1.4 million.
Many taxpayer-subsidized loans given under the PPP — which were meant to support small businesses during the beginning of the pandemic, with the government doling out billions in funds so that banks could make low-interest loans — were forgiven.
The White House’s tweets published as the president, speaking at a Democratic National Committee event in Maryland, touted his administration’s successes and criticized the GOP for putting Americans’ interests aside to support former president Donald Trump’s agenda.
“What we’re seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy,” Biden told attendees, according to a pool report of the event. “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy … it’s like semi-fascism.”