By Caroline Colarusso
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FRAMINGHAM – What do you do when you are in deep trouble only weeks before a critically important
midterm election that will determine the future of our country? Do you pay attention to public sentiment about runaway, record inflation? Do you urge your party to adopt policies that will ease the pain at the gas pump or lower heating oil bills? Well, not if you are Katherine Clark. In that case, you champion a vote-buying scheme that absolves higher income households of their student debt in order to win back
dissatisfied voters.
At the same time, if you are Katherine Clark, you reward one of your party’s key interest groups, namely academia, which has benefited enormously from inflated tuition rates during your time in Congress.
What about the American people who are compelled through taxation to underwrite this student loan forgiveness plan? What about the people who never attended college and thus never accumulated any student loans?
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Just yesterday, a local hairdresser contacted me and explained that she is a long-time independent voter who is furious atthe thought of paying for other peoples’ student loans, and she has every right to be.
No one is paying the debt she incurred to be trained and licensed as a hairdresser or the loans she incurred to buy furniture and equipment for her salon. This is the ultimate act of inequity, showing preferential treatment toward one group while ignoring the needs of another group and burdening them with other people’s debt.
As a member of Congress, Katherine Clark should be fiercely advocating for equitable treatment of all people, especially those who play by the rules. Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan mimics his immigration policy, which flies in the face of the many migrants who entered this country legally. Biden is incentivizing illegal immigration, and Katherine Clark supports it.
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Furthermore, inflation, gas prices, and heating oil prices are causing 51% of Americans to use their credit cards just to make ends meet each month. Here in Massachusetts, people are already burdened by a higher cost of living as compared to other parts of our country. Due to record inflation, residents are further worried about putting food on the table, paying their rent, getting a mortgage, heating their homes this winter, and choosing between medication and groceries. Biden’s economic policies, including this student loan forgiveness plan, have been disastrous for the working middle class and seniors who are already living on a fixed income. Katherine Clark has failed to advocate for us by blindly supporting harmful economic and energy agendas pushed by Biden and Pelosi.
Joe Biden has no authority to unilaterally forgive federal student loan debt without Congressional approval. Responsible citizens want checks and balances in government. Katherine Clark is unable to give you that balance because she blindly votes in lock step with her party leadership.
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If progressives like Clark were truly concerned about soaring college tuitions, they would ask colleges and universities who maintain billions in endowment funds, to “pitch in” and have some skin in the game. Instead, progressives like Clark, in true Robin Hood fashion, take from Peter to pay Paul. It’s all of the “Paul” votes they are after, not fairness and equity for all.
Soaring education costs must be tackled now. Katherine Clark has been in office since 2013, and costs have risen exponentially during her time in Congress. She has not displayed the political will to tackle the ongoing problem. Clark has not worked for bipartisan change aimed at curbing college tuition costs. Rather than lecturing us and throwing more of our money at problems, Democrats and Republicans must start working together to hold academic institutions accountable and insist that colleges and universities across America contribute their fair share toward lowering college costs for average, working class American families. Instead, we are witnessing a blatant scheme on the part of Democrats in Congress to use taxpayer dollars to buy votes from affluent millennials. Clark and her colleagues know that this demographic is slowly but surely starting to reject the destructive tax and spend policies of the
progressives and social elitists in government. We need less lecturing and more listening from both Congress and higher education institutions.
To learn more about my campaign, please visit our new website at ColarussoforCongress.com and please feel free to contact me with your questions and concerns.
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Caroline Colarusso is running as a Republican in the 5th Congressional District in Massachusetts. She is unopposed on the September 6 primary ballot. She will face Congresswoman Katherine Clark in November 2022.
Town of Ashland