President Donald Trump signed a memo to automatically discharge of federal student loan debt for permanently and totally disabled veterans during his visit to Louisville Tuesday, where he addressed about 1,900 attendees.
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“You fought courageously for your country, and now we’re fighting courageously for you,” Trump told a crowd at a downtown hotel, vowing to eliminate “every penny” of an average of $30,000 of student loan debt for about 25,000 disabled veterans.
LIST OF APPLICATIONS FOR REGULARISATION OF AREA COUNCIL LAND DOCUMENTS NULLIFIED/CANCELLED BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF FCT
About half of the roughly 50,000 disabled veterans who are qualified to have their federal student loan debt forgiven have received the benefit because of an application process that has proven burdensome, the administration said.
LIST OF APPLICATIONS FOR REGULARISATION OF AREA COUNCIL LAND DOCUMENTS NULLIFIED/CANCELLED BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF FCT
The memo directs the government to develop an “expedited” process, which the Department of Education said would mean loans are forgiven unless veterans opt-out.
Trump’s speech at the 75th national convention of AMVETS, a major U.S. veterans’ organization, was part of a daylong visit to Louisville that also included a fundraiser for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s reelection bid.
Joe Chenelly, executive director of AMVETS, was glad the president, for the most part, stuck with key subjects that are priorities for veterans, including veterans’ health services, employment, education and the disturbingly high rate of suicide among vets.
“Suicide prevention is certainly our biggest thing,” Chenelly said.
Outside the downtown hotel on the Ohio River, Trump’s appearance drew vendors selling Trump 2020 flags and shirts. Protesters chanted and held signs blasting Trump for “destroying our democracy,” including some veterans who opposed Trump’s support of a ban on transgender service members.
Inside, hundreds of veterans in garrison caps cheered Trump, who praised veterans and his efforts to build up the U.S. military, saying the U.S. had “pulverized” ISIS in Syria. He also touted the move to create a sixth branch of the Armed Forces, the “Space Force.”
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“We’re rebuilding the awesome might of the U.S. military,” he said.
Trump said he had worked to improve mental health services for veterans and reduce wait times and care at Veterans Affairs hospitals. He said the VA had fired 7,600 workers who weren’t providing proper care to veterans. He also said he’d worked to reduce veteran unemployment, which had reached “the lowest level ever recorded.” In July 2019, the veteran unemployment rate was 3.4%, down from a high of 9.9% in 2011, according to the government.
“You are not forgotten,” Trump said.
He said he would “sign a memorandum directing the Department of Education to eliminate every penny of Federal student loan debt owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled.”
“Incredible. Nobody can complain about that,” he said, adding that Federal taxes will not be applied to the forgiven debt.
In May, 51 U.S. attorneys general, including Andy Beshear in Kentucky, urged the U.S. Department of Education in a letter to automatically forgive the student loans of veterans who became totally and permanently disabled in connection with their military service. Of more than 42,000 veterans eligible, fewer than 9,000 had applied while many were defaulting on loans.
Trump, who spoke mostly from a teleprompter in a scripted speech, also gave a nod to Kentucky’s political climate by shouting out Gov. Matt Bevin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, two of his closest allies in the Bluegrass State.
Trump said the event wasn’t a campaign speech but still said he would “keep America great.” Claiming his administration has solved problems of veterans’ access to health care left by the previous administration, Trump said the “fake news” will probably try to undercut his claim.
“They’ll find somebody who wasn’t treated perfectly, and he’ll be on the top of the news tonight,” Trump said to laughter and applause from the crowd.
When introducing WWII veteran Woody Williams, who won the Medal of Honor, Trump — who received five deferments from the draft for military service during the Vietnam War — said of the medal: “I wanted one, but they told me I don’t qualify,” he said. “I said, ‘Can I give it to myself anyway?’ They said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’”
