Rep. Jared Golden’s recent position against President Biden’s loan forgiveness program is misconceived. More troubling was his use of inflammatory language referring to some persons that disagree with his position as “Twitterati” having “privileged status.”

Rep. Golden’s stated position is that he does not believe that his constituents should help pay for a small portion of the loans that citizens used to help finance post-secondary education because these individuals made the choice to pursue a college degree. Instead, he suggests that individuals should enlist in the service, like he did, and then have the government pay an even greater amount for their higher education degree through the GI higher education benefits.

Does Rep. Golden not understand the hypocrisy in his position? Pursuing military service, however honorable, is also a personal choice. I believe that instead he should support both the GI bill as well as the loan forgiveness program, which also benefits many persons performing other forms of public service such as those in the health care or teaching professions, performing extraordinarily during the pandemic.

What about another education benefit offered by the federal government – the Pell grant, which provides nearly $7,000 per year to income-eligible students pursuing post-secondary education, including technical certifications for the types of jobs that Rep. Golden advocates. Would Rep. Golden deny his constituents this benefit because not all citizens pursue such programs?

Rep. Golden’s position is hypocritical and wrong. But his decision to use Trump-like divisive language is even more troubling.

John Grew
Scarborough

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