President Joe Biden’s administration, with only a mere month to go before President-elect Donald Trump takes the reins, has once again failed to follow through on a promise made to the American people. Although, to be fair, this isn’t a promise that ever should have been made in the first place. The administration has withdrawn two student loan forgiveness proposals that were supposed to provide relief to millions of borrowers across the country.
Trending Politics News is reporting:
On December 20, the Department of Education announced the withdrawal of two proposed regulations intended to cancel student debt for over 38 million borrowers. These plans faced legal obstacles, including a federal judge’s preliminary injunction following a lawsuit from Republican attorneys general. The Department cited operational challenges and the need to prioritize assisting borrowers resuming payments after the pandemic-induced pause as reasons for the withdrawal. The proposed forgiveness plans encountered significant opposition, with critics arguing they were unconstitutional and amounted to an unfair wealth transfer. The Department of Education maintained that it possesses the authority to forgive student loans for borrowers meeting certain criteria or facing financial hardship. However, officials concluded that there wasn’t sufficient time to implement the proposals before Joe Biden’s term concludes on January 20, 2025.
All the while this is happening, officials who are working closely with the Trump transition team have been hard at work attempting to put together tactics and strategies to take apart the various student debt relief initiatives that the current administration put in place.
“In light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time,” officials wrote. Despite the withdrawal of these broad forgiveness initiatives, the Biden administration has continued to provide targeted debt relief through existing programs. On Friday, the Department of Education announced the cancellation of $4.28 billion in student loans for public service workers, bringing the total debt forgiven during Biden’s tenure to approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers.
Officials with the agency said that with time running out for the current administration, the Department has refocused itself on several priorities. They reiterated that their goal is to help those considered at-risk borrowers get back on track with paying off their loans.
To put things plainly, the withdrawals of these forgiveness plans means there are many borrowers out there that will not see any of the relief they thought they would get. The administration is reprioritizing their goal to ensure folks who owe money are on track to pay it off. In the meanwhile, borrowers have been encouraged to go ahead and seek help from relief programs that already exist such as payment plans that are driven by individual income and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, blocked Biden’s plan to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 in student debt for 40 million borrowers using emergency COVID-19 powers earlier this year. Reacting quickly, Biden directed the Education Department to seek alternative debt relief methods under existing law. A proposal from April would forgive the debts of roughly 30 million Americans based on factors like accrued interest and prolonged debt periods.
“President Biden’s proposals would have freed millions from the crushing weight of the student debt crisis and unlocked economic mobility for millions more workers and families,” stated Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel of the Student Borrower Protection Center, in a statement that closed out the report.
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