U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet likes to claim he’s a moderate. And on the floor of the Senate back in February, he actually sounded like one, too.

“If you’re gonna spend $200 billion or $230 billion to cancel student loan debt,” Bennet asserted, “we need to do it in a way that reaches those who need it most and reforms the underlying system that got us here in the first place. Otherwise, there’s no reason to do it.”

So much for that. Without any “reforms (to) the underlying system,” Joe Biden is doing it anyway.

This week, the president announced he’s moving ahead with the most expansive student loan forgiveness scheme in the nation’s history — and Bennet is dancing around the issue.

“(T)he administration should have further targeted the relief and proposed a way to pay for this plan,” he said in a measly statement. “While immediate relief to families is important, one-time debt cancellation does not solve the underlying problem.”

So why isn’t Bennet sounding alarms? The economic literature is clear that the student loan crisis directly results from the proliferation of loans and grants, which encourages more spending on college as young borrowers don’t realize the costs until after they graduate and the bill comes due.

Now that Biden is about to forgive debt, it’ll only get worse. With all these Biden Bucks available, why shouldn’t incoming students expect their loans will eventually be canceled?

While colleges bring out the champagne, eager to raise tuition ever more, 18-year-olds will have every reason to be even more reckless and take out more loans. Alternatively, the inevitable sticker shock might actually price out low-income students from even applying for college.

Under Biden’s plan, debtors earning up to $125,000 will receive up to $10,000 in student loans canceled. Those who took out Pell Grants will be eligible for up to $20,000. The administration estimates some 20 million student loan borrowers will have their slates wiped clean.

Fundamental reforms to America’s student loan system are critical, and there are viable alternatives to forgiveness as well. Yet, Biden offers nothing but gasoline on the fire. Bennet has chosen to watch it burn.

By refusing to reject Biden’s plan, Bennet is complicit. The inevitable catastrophe will be as much his doing as Biden’s.

The financial costs are massive. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated Biden’s plan would cost roughly $298 billion – with an income cap. As Fortune noted, “Penn’s model did not estimate the additional $20,000 in Pell Grant forgiveness; the total cost will likely be higher because of that.”

Bennet’s Republican challenger, Joe O’Dea, minced no words. “Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness scheme doesn’t erase the debt,” O’Dea wrote. “It puts $300 billion of new debt on the backs of working Americans.”

He’s right: While 43 million adults owe student loans, that represents just 17% of all American adults. This means 83% of adults — who either didn’t go to college, didn’t take out loans or already paid back their loans — will be forced to subsidize fewer than 17%. How is that fair?

Furthermore, as the University of Utah’s Adam Looney observed, widespread forgiveness implies that recent college graduates owing student debt have “negative wealth and are thus worse off than otherwise similar Americans who have not gone to college.”

Does Bennet believe someone who recently graduated college is somehow worse off than Americans who haven’t attended college?

“Who has student debt? In some cases, it’s students who have separated from deferred status and don’t have a college degree,” Penn Wharton director Kent Smetters told Fortune. “But in many cases, it’s those who have a college degree” and, accordingly, are higher earners.

When former President Donald Trump sought to unilaterally declare a national emergency to “build the wall” without congressional authorization, Sen. Michael Bennet rightly opposed it.

“This should bother everybody who believes in our system of checks and balances—who believes in the Constitution,” Bennet argued then, noting that “Congress has the power of the purse in our Constitution.”

Bennet was right in 2019. Now, he gives Biden a pass on $300 billion and something far more sweeping. Did he VOTE to grant the president the “power of the purse” for mass loan forgiveness? No. As Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unequivocally stated last year, “The president can’t do it.” Why does Bennet think Biden can?

For years, Bennet has insisted he’s a moderate. But when push comes to shove, he does what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tells him to do. I asked last month if Bennet will “yet again acquiesce to partisan political pressures in an election year?”

As always, that’s exactly what he’s chosen to do. Thus, as the college cost crisis escalates and our inflationary spiral intensifies, you can blame Bennet.

Jimmy Sengenberger is host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6-9am on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts “Jimmy at the Crossroads,” a webshow and podcast in partnership with The Washington Examiner.