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- Rebecca Hill, 61, is an independent voter with student loans who voted for Trump in 2016.
- With the GOP pushing to block the SAVE student-loan repayment plan, she's considering voting for a Democrat.
- She said the lower payments through SAVE allowed her to afford medicine, groceries, and gas.
Rebecca Hill isn't a fan of either political party right now, but the chaos surrounding student debt might make her vote Democrat.
Hill, 61, is an independent voter, and in the past, she said she has leaned to the right — she voted for Trump in the 2016 election.
Now, however, Hill is reconsidering her vote. She has nearly $50,000 in student loans, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider, and she enrolled in President Joe Biden's SAVE student-loan repayment plan, intended to lower borrowers' payments based on their income and give them a shorter timeline to debt cancellation.
That's the same plan that's currently blocked in court as GOP state attorneys general are pushing to permanently stop it from being implemented.
"Every time something new comes out, I'm a nervous wreck," Hill told BI of news surrounding the fate of the SAVE plan.
"When can I start thinking about it being safe to retire? I'm getting old, and I'm tired, and I've already had one hip replaced," she added. "I want to be able to just breathe, but retiring and having to pay for student loans when I'm not even working anymore and paying most of my Social Security to student loans, it's ridiculous. It's extremely stressful. I feel like they're getting ready to pull the rug out from under us again."
After two separate groups of GOP state attorneys general filed lawsuits to block SAVE earlier this year, federal courts temporarily halted parts of the plan. The 10th Circuit later ruled some SAVE provisions could move forward, but most recently, the 8th Circuit blocked the plan in its entirety, pending a final decision.
One of the key arguments in the lawsuits is the cost of the plan to taxpayers. The case led by Missouri's attorney general cited an estimate from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School that found the SAVE plan could cost $475 billion over 10 years.
The lawsuits have thrown 8 million borrowers on SAVE, including Hill, into financial limbo. Hill said the uncertainty with her student loans is forcing her to push back her timeline to retire. She's a teacher and has loans because she went back to school in 2009 to get her teaching degree, which she funded through grants, scholarships, and student loans.
While she landed a job in her desired field, it wasn't easy for her to make around $300 monthly payments on the income-driven repayment plan due to her other expenses. The SAVE plan, however, brought her payments down to just over $120, and she's worried that if the lawsuits succeed, her payments will surge.
"I am scared they aren't hearing us," Hill said. "The Democratic Party, and I'm not a left leaner, but at least they're doing something about it. Republicans are scaring the crap out of me."
'It's just very frustrating'
When Hill was placed on the SAVE plan last summer, she felt immediate relief and felt that, for once, she could afford her student-loan payments.
The lower payments have allowed her to save up for a new car, and she doesn't have to worry about affording her medication or daily expenses.
"I don't have to worry about, 'Oh, do I buy medication? Or how can I skip my groceries this week?' There are repairs to the house that I'm able to do. I was able to get the roof replaced and things like that," Hill said. "Am I going to have enough gas to go to work? It's ridiculous the stress it just takes off in having that extra buffer."
That's why the lawsuits are making Hill rethink the party she supports: "It's just very frustrating.'"
"I don't understand what the Republicans are thinking," she said. "Why are we not investing in our people? I mean, that's our biggest commodity, our people. Invest in their education."
Trump has previously criticized Biden's student-loan forgiveness efforts. During a Wisconsin campaign rally in June, Trump said that Biden is "throwing money out the window" with his debt relief policies.
"This student-loan program, which is not even legal, I mean it's not even legal, and the students aren't buying it, by the way," Trump said, adding that debt relief is "vile" and an attempt to get "publicity for the election."
Republican lawmakers have also supported lawsuits to block the SAVE plan. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Bill Cassidy filed a brief to the Supreme Court accusing Biden of "sending the money out the door, never to be seen again, through a legally dubious program in the final stretch of his desperate reelection campaign."
The brief was filed before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, but with his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, his debt relief efforts would likely continue should she win.
The Education Department has vowed to continue fighting for the SAVE plan in court. In the meantime, all enrolled SAVE borrowers have been placed on forbearance, during which they don't have to make payments, and interest will not accrue. However, the months on pause won't count toward forgiveness progress on Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans, even if borrowers continue to make payments.
As a teacher, Hill is also enrolled in PSLF and has a projected two years left until she qualifies for relief. In the meantime, she's hoping SAVE will survive so she can afford payments while saving for retirement.
"If the right continues to really push against the student-loan stuff, I will not vote right," Hill said. "I just won't."
Are you enrolled in the SAVE plan? Are your student-loan payments influencing how you will vote in the election? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.
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