Biden in Albuquerque: 'When I Was a Professor,' and Student Loan Relief 'in the Coming Days' (November 3, 2022)

Days before the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden told a community college crowd in Albuquerque about his résumé. “I spent more time with Xi Jinping of China than any world leader has—when I was Vice President and when I was out of the office for 4 years when I was a professor, and then, now, as President,” he said [1].

Fact-checkers had looked at a similar claim. Biden held an honorary title at the University of Pennsylvania, and “the duration of the position was closer to two years than four, since he was on leave while running for president,” PolitiFact found, Fox News reported [2].

The video above shows part of Biden’s Nov. 3, 2022, remarks on student loan relief in Albuquerque. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”When I Was a Professor”

Biden “was the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of Practice from 2017 to 2021,” Fox News reported. A Snopes fact-check found the “role was honorary. He gave lectures and talks to students on campus, but did not teach a full semester’s course load during that time” [2].

He opened the speech with a nod to the other professor in the family. “And you know, my wife’s a full-time community college professor still—a teacher. And, matter of fact, she’s teaching today,” Biden said [1].

PolitiFact added that “his duties might not conform to the full range of activities that the public might associate with the term ‘full professor,’ including teaching semester-long classes, conducting independent research, and handling administrative responsibilities,” according to Fox [2].

“17-, 18,000 Miles”

In the same breath, Biden retold his favorite China story and stretched it. Xi, he said, “asked me when we were on the Tibetan Plateau, when I traveled 17-, 18,000 miles with him” [1].

He also said he had spent “Sixty-eight hours, in terms of on the telephone or in person with him” [1].

”Relief in the Coming Days”

The speech was a pitch for his student loan plan. “By the end of this week, the Department of Education will have approved applications of 16 million Americans and sent the necessary paperwork to student loan servicers in the last step before 16 million Americans can have their loan discharged,” Biden said [1].

“That’s 16 million people who will be hearing from the Department of Education that they’ve been approved and who should be seeing relief in the coming days. But it’s temporarily on hold,” he said [1].

He blamed Republicans. “Well, because Republican Members of the Congress and Republican Governors are doing everything they can, including taking us to court, to deny the relief and even to their own constituents,” Biden said [1].

And he promised the lawsuits would fail. “And every lawyer tells me we’re—there’s—we’ve knocked two of them out of the way. There’s only one thing left in the way, and that it’s going to happen,” he said [1].

”You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”

Biden went after Republicans who had business loans forgiven under the pandemic Paycheck Protection Program. “I don’t want to hear it from MAGA Republican officials who sit in Congress and who had hundreds of thousands of dollars—in one case, a million—over a million dollars in pandemic relief loans forgiven,” he said [1].

He named names. “Marjorie Taylor Greene and her husband—they got over $180,000 in business loans forgiven,” Biden said, and “Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida said our plan was ‘reckless.’ He got forgiven $2.3 million. You can’t make this stuff up” [1].

He went after a Texas senator, too. “Ted Cruz, the Senator from Texas, said, you’re a bunch of ‘slackers.’ He says it’s for ‘slackers’ who don’t deserve relief. Who in God’s name do these guys think they are?” Biden said [1].

He mocked the Republican governors who had written to him. “Republican Governors wrote me a letter saying that the relief only helps the ‘elite few.’ You all know you’re ‘elite’? It’s nice to know that. I knew you were elite,” Biden told the students [1].

Those were loans to businesses “hurt by the pandemic,” as Biden himself put it. “Well, we stepped in and we helped. Well, those loans are being forgiven,” he said [1].

”Poorest Man in Congress”

Biden told the students about his late son’s loans. “He ended up with a debt, because I had the dubious distinction of being listed as the ‘poorest man in Congress.’ [ Laughter ]” he said [1].

“And I called her one morning, and I was up in—up in the State of Vermont campaigning for Pat Leahy,” Biden said of his wife. “She said, ‘Headline, front page, top of the fold: ‘Biden: Poorest Man in Congress.’ Is that true?’ [ Laughter ] Well, I didn’t think you were supposed to make money when you’re in Congress.” [1]

“Up to $10,000”

Biden laid out the terms: “up to $10,000 in student debt relief and up to $20,000 if the person seeking the relief received a Pell grant,” for people making “under $125,000” [1].

“And the—for borrowers out of school, nearly 90 percent of that relief is going to go to people who have incomes under $75,000,” he said. Applying, he said, “takes less than 5 minutes to do it” [1].

“Close to 26 million Americans have already applied,” he said [1].

By the Numbers

4 years: how long Biden said he was a professor [1].
About 2 years: how long the role really ran before his campaign leave, per PolitiFact as reported by Fox [2].
16 million: borrowers Biden said would see relief “in the coming days” [1].
$430 billion: the loan principal the plan would have canceled, per the Supreme Court [4].

What Happened Next

The courts stopped it. After a district court dismissed the states’ suit for lack of standing, “the Eighth Circuit issued a nationwide preliminary injunction pending resolution of the appeal,” the Supreme Court later recounted [4]. On Nov. 18, 2022, the administration asked the justices to vacate that injunction [3].

The Supreme Court struck it down. On June 30, 2023, the Court ruled that the law Biden relied on “does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal” [4].

For how the ruling quoted Nancy Pelosi, see HYGO News’ page on Biden v. Nebraska, and for every telling of the 17,000 miles, the page on that story.