• Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Oh, he’s certainly the most liberal since Kennedy. But he’s not progressive except in the slogans of centrists.

    • MartianRecon@lemmus.org
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      7 months ago

      I think that’s a no true Scotsman kind of thing. Biden has done plenty of progressive policies. He’s forgiven billions in student loan debt (and wanted to forgive more but R courts are political), he’s passed infrastructure, and he’s also passed some bills to keep the cost of medicine down.

      Could he do more? Sure. If voters showed up at the midterms and gave him a D house, he could have done more. But they didn’t.

      Way too often, people let perfect be the enemy of good. Biden is good, not perfect.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        He’s forgiven billions in student loan debt

        Using a program signed into law by George W Bush. Does that mean Bush was also a progressive?

        • MartianRecon@lemmus.org
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          7 months ago

          Biden passed comprehensive student loan forgiveness, and it was struck down by the supreme court for bullshit reasons. He’s using the mechanisms of government that he can control.

          Or did you forget that part?

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Or did you forget that part?

            No I didn’t forget. But that’s not what you were talking about. You were talking about the student loans forgiven during Biden’s term. That’s being done under the PSLF program signed into law by G.W. Bush in 2007.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Loan_Forgiveness

            If forgiving loans under this program is one reason to call Biden a progressive then the same would apply to Bush.

            So I’ll ask you again, was Bush also a progressive?

            • MartianRecon@lemmus.org
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              7 months ago

              And you ignored my part of the conversation. He DID pass comprehensive student loan debt relief. Republicans used lawfare to halt the program.

              Does that not count?

              • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                He’s forgiven billions in student loan debt

                This was part of your conversation. You’re just deflecting because you had no idea what the PSLF program was or how it came to be.

                And no I don’t give participation trophies to presidents. Especially when I suspect they wanted it to fail in the first place.

                • MartianRecon@lemmus.org
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                  7 months ago

                  He literally passed a bill, and republicans used the courts to strike it down. Biden then uses the mechanisms of government he can control, and still helps SOME people

                  Naw that doesn’t count it’s a participation trophy.

                  🙄

                  • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                    7 months ago

                    He literally passed a bill

                    No he didn’t. The attempted at student loan forgiveness you’re referring to was done through an executive order. You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

                    https://www.factcheck.org/2022/08/qa-on-bidens-student-loan-forgiveness/

                    Also, I suspect he fully intended for it to fail for two reasons.

                    1. Joe Biden voted numerous times to make student loan debt difficult to remove through bankruptcies during his time as senator. There is no reason to think he suddenly was in favor of student loan forgiveness.
                    2. At the same time he announced this attempt he announced student loan debt repayments would restart. Obviously this wasn’t going to go over well and he needed some popular news to drown out that aspect. It worked. Student loan payments resumed and student loan forgiveness failed.
      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Sure. If voters showed up at the midterms and gave him a D house, he could have done more. But they didn’t.

        If Democrats had used the majorities we gave them during his first two years instead of getting in their own way, this would be a convincing argument.