The Washington Post (WaPo) is very concerned, in fact, they find it “disturbing” that elderly Americans who owe student loans have to pay it back.

To recoup student-loan debt, the government is garnishing wages of people who rely on Social Security with benefits that fall below federal poverty guidelines, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday.

Older Americans are defaulting, leaving the government garnishing the benefits of 114,000 people age 50 or older, more than half are receiving disability, the GAO report said.

Democrats don’t want them to have to pay their debts.

“We can’t be garnishing people’s Social Security in a way that puts them into poverty,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “We need to make sure that we have adjusted the ability of the government to recover those loan amounts in a way that is not spiraling people into poverty.”

McCaskill and Elizabeth Warren had asked for this information in April 2015.

WaPo suggests the fees and interest adding to their debts is somehow unfair.

Seventy percent of the money collected through this form of garnishment from borrowers of all ages was applied to fees and interest, not the principle amount owed. Treasury charges a $15 monthly processing fee for wage and benefit garnishment.

And although Social Security cuts for many older Americans ended within a year, those with balances exceeding $20,000 endured the reduction for five years or more, according to the report. About 13 percent of borrowers older than 50 died with outstanding student loans.

Some people have been granted financial hardship exemptions, while others have successfully applied for permanent disability discharge of their loans through the Education Department.

They like the idea of not paying the loans back – a lot

The Obama administration has been identifying severely disabled borrowers and guiding them through the steps to discharge their loans. With the help of the Social Security Administration, education officials found 179,000 permanently disabled people in default on their loans earlier this year.

They are referring to Obama’s Income-driven repayment (IDR) plans make it easier for federal student loan borrowers to pay back loans if your debt is high compared to your income. The main plans are Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR).

These plans have students paying off some of the interest but the debt balance continues to grow. That is making the situation worse by deferring loans to old age.

They are very worried that people are “falling through the cracks” and are having to pay their loans back.

Advocacy groups, however, worry that people are still falling through the cracks.

Warren says it’s predatory for them to have to pay it back.

“Our government is shoving tens of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities into poverty through garnishment every year — and charging them $15 every month for the privilege — just so that the Department of Education can collect a little bit more interest and keep boosting the government’s student loan profits,” Warren said. “This is predatory and counterproductive.”

At the end of last year, Warren co-sponsored legislation that would exempt Social Security benefits from being garnished by the government. Although the bill stalled in committee, she is urging Congress to revisit the legislation in light of the GAO’s findings.

If this goes anywhere, US taxpayers will be on the hook. This past year alone, the taxpayers were on the hook for more than 100 billion dollars.

Some might say the government is predatory for making taxpayers pay the debt of others.