White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has a message for Taylor Swift fans struggling to purchase tickets for her upcoming tour: the government does it better, apparently.
Klain took to Twitter bragging about the efficiency of the Biden administration’s student debt relief website, which was created for borrowers to take advantage of the president’s plan to cancel $10,000 or $20,000 worth of debt, depending on income level.
The White House staffer noted how well the application process worked.
Over my years in the public and private sectors, I've had people tell me: If only the government could work like business.
Well, the team at @USEdgov and @USDS built a Student Loan Forgiveness portal that processed 8 MILLION applications in the first 30 hours without a crash. https://t.co/VaaoTMVycg
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) November 15, 2022
“Over my years in the public and private sectors, I’ve had people tell me: If only the government could work like business,” Klain shared on Twitter. “Well, the team at @USEdgov and @USDS built a Student Loan Forgiveness portal that processed 8 MILLION applications in the first 30 hours without a crash.”
With that, Klain shared the link to an Axios article titled, “Ticketmaster crashes during Taylor Swift ticket presale.”
Swift fans have become increasingly frustrated as they experienced technical difficulties trying to obtain tickets. Ticketmaster’s pre-sale tickets for Swift’s “The Eras Tour” opened to fans with registered codes on Tuesday.
The ticket sales and distribution company explained why the site crashed, blaming the overloaded system on the sheer number of people trying to get on simultaneously.
Ticketmaster shared on Tuesday that “there has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up” to buy tickets. The company addressed fans waiting in the virtual queue, confirming that the line was moving and they needed to “hang tight.” They also defended themselves, saying “hundreds of thousands” of tickets had been successfully purchased.
“The Eras Tour” tickets have been popping up on third-party resale sites for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
But at least fans will likely get to see a Taylor Swift concert if they jump through the hoops required to secure tickets. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for applicants to the student debt relief website Klain is so proud of, as a federal judge in Texas ruled last week that Biden’s student loan bailout is illegal.
The Biden administration is appealing the decision, but there are no guarantees that they’ll prevail, and the legal process will likely drag on for months. Meanwhile, the Education Department is not accepting any new applications for debt relief as these issues go to court.