For Immediate Release: April 3, 2025 

Contact: press@borrowersaction.org

 

Amidst Ongoing Attacks on Department of Education, Congressional Republicans

Set on Passing Budget to Deliver Tax Cuts to Billionaires While Slashing Support for Public Education, Students, and Working Families ​

Mackenzie Voted to Pass MAGA Budget Cutting Billions from Education Programs that Pennsylvanians Rely on to 

Help Cover Rising Costs of College

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WASHINGTON, D.C.  — This week, Congressional Republicans met to discuss their next steps to pass their MAGA budget plans that would cut billions to education programs to pay for trillions in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. In February, Representative Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) joined his Republican colleagues to pass a MAGA budget calling for at least $350 billion in cuts to education programs in order to pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. The House is expected to move an updated budget proposal as early as next week, which will call for similarly steep cuts. 

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Rep. Mackenzie is looking to make steep cuts to the Pell Grant program, which helped over 12,400 students in Pennsylvania's 7th District pay for college last year. In addition to making college even more expensive for working families, Rep. Mackenzie wants to eliminate affordable repayment options for Americans with student debt, which could force monthly student loan bills to skyrocket for 130,000 of his constituents with student debt. 

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“Students, borrowers, and working families in Pennsylvania's 7th District deserve policymakers who will keep their promises to lower everyday costs,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, Political Director for Protect Borrowers Action. “Instead, Rep. Mackenzie is pushing massive tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations paid for on the backs of working families in his district. Not only would these cuts push hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians further into debt, they are incredibly unpopular. It’s time for Rep. Mackenzie to work on behalf of his constituents, not his ultra wealthy donors.” 

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Polling conducted in February shows that voters across party lines, age groups, gender, race, and educational status strongly oppose efforts to pay for tax cuts for the ultra wealthy on the backs of students and working families with student debt. According to the poll, voters oppose decreasing Pell Grant awards by a more than 3-to-1 margin. The same poll also found that 60% of voters—including a majority of Republicans—oppose eliminating income-driven repayment options that allow borrowers to tie their monthly payment to their income. 

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About Protect Borrowers Action

Protect Borrowers Action educates, activates, and mobilizes Americans with student debt to hold right-wing officials accountable for their efforts to deny borrowers life-changing relief and keep them drowning in student debt. PBA is a fiscally sponsored project of Fund for a Better Future, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Learn more at borrowersaction.org.