Arizona’s U.S. Senators Would Respond To “Dirty Job” Doers With Silence

kelly sinema
Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema dutifully posed with their vaccine records in D.C. on December 18, 2021. [Photo via Twitter]

Mike Rowe, the star of the “Dirty Jobs” TV series, inspires millions of Americans.  He preaches the value of hard work and reminds us that you don’t need a college degree (and the thousands of dollars of debt that normally goes with it) to be a success.  His Mike Rowe Foundation awards, in his words “awards work-ethic scholarships to individuals who choose to forego an expensive, four-year education in favor of a skilled trade.”

On August 25th, though, Mike Rowe wasn’t feeling inspired.  He was disillusioned, even disgusted.  On his Facebook page, he said this: “Today, I can find nothing to respect in the President’s decision to transfer billions of dollars in outstanding student loans onto the backs of those people my foundation tries to assist – the same people I’ve spent the last twenty years profiling on ‘Dirty Jobs.’” President Biden had just announced his plan to forgive billions of dollars in student debt. “This decision is without question,” said Rowe, “the biggest pre-Labor Day slap in the face to working people I’ve ever seen.”

The same day Rowe posted this, I contacted both of Arizona’s Senators.  I asked for their positions on President Biden’s plan.  I specifically asked what they, as Senators, had to say to Arizonans who’d paid off their college debts or avoided student loans altogether.

Nothing, it seems.

Both Senators’ offices have now responded.  Neither one said anything specific to people who avoided debt or paid off their loans.  (Perhaps they are more interested in the people who follow Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, instead of Mike Rowe?)

Senator Kelly’s office did say that the senator was “glad this plan is more targeted than past proposals to cancel all student debt, and that it will be directed at those who need it most, including relief for those who attended a community college.”  Whoever wrote the reply (presumably a staffer) did not mention that President Biden’s plan will forgive debt for individuals who make up to $125,000 a year—more than twice the median household income in Arizona.  Kelly’s reply also said that Americans have “earned” student loan debt relief.

Senator Sinema’s staffer did at least concede that there are opponents to the president’s plan:

Opponents contend that the president does not have the legal authority to unilaterally cancel student loan debt. Opponents also believe canceling student loan debt is unfair to future borrowers and those who have already paid off their financial obligations, will make inflation worse, and does nothing to address college affordability. Numerous state attorneys general and advocacy groups are considering legal action to challenge the cancelation of student debt. There is currently no pending legal action.

Neither Sinema nor Kelly explicitly said if they supported President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program or not, or tried to get it modified to make it less of a giveaway to higher-income earners.

Apparently, this is how Arizona’s current U.S. Senators would respond to Mike Rowe and his supporters, when pressed. With silence.

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Donald Smith wrote the “Fort Buckley” blog on TucsonCitizen.com from 2011 to 2012. He lives in Tucson.