this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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While he didn't do it by himself, his support was critical in getting it passed:
βBiden was one of the most powerful people who could have said no, who could have changed this. Instead he used his leadership role to limit the ability of other Democrats who had concerns and who wanted the bill softened,β said Melissa Jacoby, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill specialising in bankruptcy.
He was still only a single yes vote on a bill that only 25 Democrats voted against, and it most certainly was not his bill.
The original claim was "Biden made Student Loans impossible to forgive via Bankruptcy." You can argue that Biden could have or should have done more on the topic but attributing this solely to him is just ridiculous, and that's before delving into the reasons why a senator with a reputation for working across the aisle and building consensus might strategically accept provisions he doesn't really like in a bill in order to achieve other, higher priorities.
Senator from DE wanted loans not to be dischargeable in BK....
I had edited my post to add that he didn't do it himself but was critical in getting in passed. Perhaps you started your reply before my edit.
I would have settled for him having done less in getting it passed. Your version of what happened or may have happened is way too charitable to Biden. He was known for being very friendly to banks and credit card companies, as a Senator from Delaware would be inclined to be, considering that Delaware is home to many of those types of businesses.
Is it? Visa is in San Francisco, Discover is in Illinois, and Mastercard and Amex are in New York.
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are in New York. Bank of America is in Charlotte. Wells Fargo is in San Francisco. Those are the nation's six largest banks. Delaware doesn't make an appearance until #94 on the biggest bank list.
Delaware is a popular state for essentially paperwork, due primarily to its efficient and well-established Chancery Court, but it's not really a major player in the banking industry. There aren't a many people or businesses in Delaware involved in banking beyond the local branch stuff in every community.
Yes, it is. Visa and Mastercard are not card issuers. Example: "Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash access programs to their customers."
This article provides details of why Delaware is attractive to banks (various financial and legal incentives), how it became that way (legislation written by major bank lawyers), and some ways it benefits from this (jobs, tax revenue).
Biden didn't earn the nickname "The Senator from MBNA" for no reason. MBNA was a huge credit card company that was later bought[?] by Bank of America. "Over the past 20 years [as of 2008], MBNA has been Biden's single largest contributor."
Yes, I'm quite aware of that but you said "banks and credit card companies" so I also included, well, credit card companies.
The article points out that all of those paperwork incorporations of companies that are nominally based in Delaware don't equate to that many jobs because the companies are actually based elsewhere. Delaware is a bit player in the banking industry.
Anyway, this is veering way off topic. The point is that Biden did not make student loans bankruptcy-proof. You can't attribute bipartisan legislation to a single non-sponsor, minority-party member who happened to vote for it. I don't care if he changed his middle name to "I love big banks." The original statement was still ridiculous.
I agree that this is veering way off topic, but you seem to like to argue semantics.
My main point was that Biden, at that time a senator of a majority Democratic state, voted with Republicans and a minority of Democratic senators of mostly conservative states to pass a bill that would benefit his largest donor, MBNA, as well as other banks, to the detriment of common people. While the OP may have overstated Biden's involvement with this bill, you seem to be understating it.
It's just especially juicy since now he's president when the cows have come home.