White House denies report that Biden will cancel $10,000 for borrowers
Many progressives would like to see Biden cancel student loan debt before November's midterm congressional elections
A White House spokesperson has shot down reports that the Biden administration is planning to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower.
“No decisions have been made yet. But as a reminder, no one has been required to pay a single dime of student loans since the president took office,” spokesperson Vedant Patel told Reuters.
Noting a recent Washington Post article that cited three unnamed sources familiar with the manner, Patel said the story is inaccurate.
Per the report:
The White House’s latest plans called for limiting debt forgiveness to Americans who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly, two of the people said. It was unclear whether the administration will simultaneously require interest and payments to resume at the end of August, when the current pause is scheduled to lapse.
As reported previously by theGrio, “Americans owe a staggering $1.7 trillion in college debt, mostly federal loans. That’s nearly half a trillion more than auto loans and double the amount of outstanding credit card debt in the U.S.”
“Black college graduates have an average of $52,000 in student debt, which is $25,000 more than their white counterparts, according to the Education Data Initiative. Over half of Black borrowers owe more than their net worth,” per theGrio.
“Administration actions have already provided more than $18.5 billion in targeted debt relief to more than 750,000 borrowers. Not to mention tens of billions more saved by the 41 million borrowers who have benefited from the extended student loan payment pause,” Patel said.
Many in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing have called on President Joe Biden to cancel student loan debt before November’s midterm congressional elections, a move they say could boost his approval ratings among younger voters.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has noted that canceling student loan debt would close the wealth gap between Black and white Americans by 27%.
“If the president of the United States would cancel $50,000 of student loan debt, which he has the power to do…about 85% of the people who have student loan debt would see all of their debt wiped out,” the Massachusets Democrat previously told theGrio in an exclusive interview.
But Biden has questioned whether he has the power to cancel student debt through executive action. As it currently stands, the president has called on Congress to pass a bill forgiving debt that he could sign.
The waiting game could affect voter enthusiasm, according to Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive Democrat from New York.
“The longer the administration waits — apparently because they are figuring out how many people to exclude from a cancelation program — the less appreciative people are going to be, because they’re continuing to struggle this entire time,” he said, per CNN.
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