Cancel student debt? A former Trump administration official argues there is a conservative case

In October, A. Wayne Johnson — one of the Trump administration’s senior student loan officials — announced his resignation, calling the federal student loan system “fundamentally broken.” He then proposed the government should forgive most outstanding student debt and terminate the student loan program. Dr. Johnson makes this case as a conservative and long-time Republican, and he joined this week’s edition of Banter to discuss his plan with three skeptical hosts.

Dr. A. Wayne Johnson was appointed the Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid in 2017 and resigned earlier this year. He is the Founder, Chairman, and former CEO of First Performance Corporation, a global payment card technology platform company. Dr. Johnson’s business experience includes working as a senior executive with TSYS, First Data, VISA, Deloitte, and as Chief Executive Officer for companies in both the banking and information processing sectors. A native of Macon, Georgia, Dr. Johnson holds a PhD and a Bachelor’s Degree from Mercer University, and an MBA from Emory University.

You can subscribe to “Banter” on iTunes, Stitcher, or the podcast player of your choice, and archived episodes can be found at www.aei.org/tag/aei-banter. This is Banter episode #390.

Related material:

Jason Delisle interviews A. Wayne Johnson at AEI

The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of his resignation