In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to block President Joe Biden’s student loan debt cancellation plan, the president is shifting to a new approach he claims federal law allows.

The Republicans are offering an alternative plan. The way Biden and the GOP are presenting their plans shows why the nation has slid into catastrophic government debt and will continue on that disastrous path.

Biden says he will use a provision in the Higher Education Act of 1965 to implement his plan, the Court having rejected his prior justification based on emergency powers in the 2003 HEROES Act expansion.

“I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families,” Biden said. “My administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.”

Notice the wording: “relief” for “hard-working” “families” to fulfill a “promise.” Biden will “continue to work” and “stop at nothing.” The man is a juggernaut of good things.

The Republicans are pushing a counteroffer to those with college debt: the Federal Assistance to Initiate Repayment (FAIR) Act in the House, and the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act in the Senate.

Biden’s plan has a simple concept: debt forgiveness. It eliminates all or part of the student debt owed by some 43 million Americans, at the bargain price of $430 billion. It’s a blatant vote-buying scam. It worked splendidly last year.

The Republican bills would block Biden’s proposed new plan and ease debtors back into repayment through less-onerous billing schedules. Here’s how Republicans describe the House bill, as reported in  The Epoch Times:

The FAIR Act is a fiscally responsible, targeted response to the chaos caused by Biden’s student loan scam,” the bill’s sponsors said in a joint statement. “This Republican solution takes important steps to fix the broken student loan system, provide borrowers with clear guidance on repayment, and protect taxpayers from the economic fallout caused by the administration’s radical free college agenda.

You can find the details of the two GOP bills in The Epoch Times story. They make much sense within the limitations of the debt forgiveness discussion. What is really going to determine which policies are ultimately implemented, however, is how the two appear to the general public. Politics is based on perceptions, of course.

The media consistently describe Biden’s plan as debt “forgiveness.” Forgiveness sounds very nice. Debt “transfer,” which is what the plan really amounts to, does not sound quite so benevolent. But this is forgiveness. Who could oppose forgiveness? What is wrong with such people?

The Republicans, in response, commit an unforced error by calling Biden’s plan a “radical free college agenda.” I suppose that they think the term “radical” is a real zinger. I also suppose that the 43 million Americans who owe money on college loans will be highly disposed to skip over that word and see the plan as “free college.”

Let’s see: “free” sounds good, and “college” sounds good, so “free college” must be good times good—good squared—or, for short, great!

Even if you dislike the Democrats for other reasons, this deal is a big attraction if you owe a large amount of money in student loans.

The Republicans, by contrast, are offering to replace forgiveness with repayment. They characterize their plan as a “fiscally responsible,” “targeted” arrangement that will “guide borrowers” and “protect taxpayers” and will be “FAIR.” The GOP offers guidance and “assistance,” not “forgiveness,” and “lowering education costs,” which arrives too late for those who have already taken out these loans.

The wording makes the Republicans sound mature and sensible, but will it change the votes of people who dislike the GOP for other reasons? That seems highly unlikely, given that the plan does not affect their tax rates today or for the foreseeable future. Everything is going to be paid for with borrowed money anyway, and the GOP just voted to raise the debt ceiling.

One side offers forgiveness, the other calls for repayment. Guess who is going to win that public-relations battle?

Biden will do here as he has done throughout his tenure as president: implement vote-buying giveaways of other people’s money, which he knows he has no right to carry out, and then dare the Republicans to allow those gifts to be wrenched from the hands of the needy when the courts later knock down the president’s unconstitutional schemes.

The Republicans, for their part, take the bait and offer “sensible” alternatives.

Sensible repayment. Debt forgiveness and free college.

Is it any wonder that the government debt continues to skyrocket?

S. T. Karnick is a senior fellow and director of publications for The Heartland Institute, where he edits Heartland Daily News and writes the Life, Liberty, Property e-newsletter.