Conservative group launches ad campaign against Biden’s student debt plan

by mcardinal

Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

 

The American Action Network, a conservative and center-right organization based in Washington, D.C., has dedicated several hundred thousand dollars in an effort to sway public opinion against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. 

According to a release from the organization, AAN has budgeted $350,000 to run a 60-second advertisement for 10 days during the broadcast of various major sporting events and online streaming locations where the target audience, primarily the American working class, is most likely to see it. 

“This is awful policy, and there’s real resentment brewing,” AAN President Dan Conston said in a statement. “Working Americans shouldn’t have to foot the bill for a handout to coddled elite college graduates who don’t like having to pay what they owe.”

Sports broadcasts, among the few remaining live-to-air programs that attract a significant audience, are appropriate partners for the AAN ad, which is formatted in a way that should fit with the normal advertising fare one would normally encounter during contests. Like any number of game-day commercials, there is no shortage of tongue-in-cheek in the anti-debt-relief spot. 

The ad is a montage of working-class figures sarcastically supporting Biden’s plan, which is predicted to cost the American taxpayer a minimum of $300 billion. 

“Biden’s right — you should take my tax dollars to pay off your debts,” a landscaper says in the ad. “My family will figure out how to get by with less. What’s most important is we spare college graduates from any extra stress.” 

A mechanic quips, “Wanna be a struggling artist? College is on me.”

The ad’s call to action is for viewers to apply pressure to Congress to stop the plan before it goes into effect at year’s end.  

While Congress is currently Democrat run, and an 11th-hour change from the left is unlikely, a push from the public could sway enough Democrats to make things at least uncomfortable for the Biden administration. 

As reported by Axios, at least four Democrats, who hope to either remain in or gain entry into the House, have already come out against the plan. This would not prove enough to affect policy, but it does show the cracks in the left’s foundation.  

“This announcement by President Biden is no way to make policy and sidesteps Congress and our oversight and fiscal responsibilities,” Rep Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) said in a statement. “Any plan to address student debt should go through the legislative process, and it should be more targeted and paid for so it doesn’t add to the deficit.”

Whether by coincidence or causation, Pappas’ statement is only weeks after he was the target of an AAN ad campaign. In its second-most-recent campaign, AAN spent $2 million in an effort to urge congresspeople in five targeted districts to force Biden to rein in inflation spending. 

In that campaign, which began in late July, AAN spent $875,000 running ads in the districts of Pappas and fellow New Hampshire Democrat Rep. Annie Kuster. 

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