By Symmer Conception - NBC News
The Senate on Thursday approved a bill blocking President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan in a vote in which two Democratic congressmen (Joe Manchin, of West Virginia; Jon Tester, of Montana) and an independent (Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who usually aligns with progressives) joined Republicans in favor of the measure.
The measure — which needed only a simple majority and passed 52-46 — would repeal Biden's plan to forgive student debt and end the moratorium on federal student loan payments.
It was approved last week by the House of Representatives (which has a Republican majority; it only added two Democratic votes) and would now go to the president to be signed, but Biden has already advanced that he would veto it; Republicans do not in principle have a sufficient majority in Congress to override a presidential veto.
"This resolution is an unprecedented effort to subvert our historic economic recovery and would leave more than 40 million American workers with much-needed help with student debt," the president said in May.
[Federal prosecutors have a tape from 2021 where Trump admits he took a secret Pentagon document]
Howard University students Aiden Thompson and Sydney Stokes rallied alongside other student loan debt activists outside the White House in late August a day after President Biden announced the plan. The Washington Post via Getty Images
However, the litmus test of Biden's plan will be the Supreme Court's ruling, expected this month; In public hearings, conservative justices (who have a majority, six to three, over progressives) were skeptical about the measure.
