The White House has approved nearly $144 billion in federal loan forgiveness for about 4 million borrowers in total, according to the administration.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the White Househas approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for thousands of public service workers.
The 78,000 eligible public service workers include teachers, nurses and firefighters, according to the White House.
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It’s the latest student debt cancellation move through Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, which allow eligible borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven if they have made a certain number of payments and are working for approved employers.
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Last year, the Supreme Court invalidated Biden’s more far-reaching student loan debt relief plan, arguing that it was unlawful because Congress did not explicitly approve the move.
I wish I got this much credit for half assedly fixing problems I helped create.
Imagine trying to do practically anything but you have some guy in football gear that’s trying to block you from going anywhere or doing anything, even something as simple as replacing a lightbulb becomes difficult.
With the level of obstruction Biden’s administration has faced from Republicans over his term, in the courts and especially their non-functional House of Representatives, I’d say he’s managed to accomplish a hell of a lot when you put that into consideration.
With the level of obstruction Biden’s administration has faced from Republicans over his term
From Republicans and Democrats alike. Let’s not pretend we didn’t all see what happened with BBB.
I agree that Democrats are part and parcel with the languid bureaucracy, and are no less bought out by business interests. However, only one side is concerned with functioning as a government, compromise, and being accountable to their constituents and it’s not the Republicans.
This isn’t a new program, it’s an extension of a program signed into law by GWB. Go ahead and tell me all about how the republicans are obstructing it though. While you’re at it, go look up who’s responsible for making it impossible to discharge student loan debt through bankruptcy.
It’s pretty obvious to me that no progress has happened with Republicans in Congress hell-bent on not passing helpful legislation as that would upset their dear leader. The only way a President can make good on their promises without them is by executive order, which is expanding, enforcing or interpreting existing signed legislation by Congress from present and previous administrations. That’s how it works. His big bid to give everyone 10 to 20k in forgiveness, using the 2002 HEROES act was overruled by conservative’s favourite Supreme Court, so he is trying any other avenue he can find without predatory loan businesses suing it away again.
Don’t get me wrong, Democrats have been sitting on their hands, taking the high road and killing progressive reforms in the name of “compromise” for many years now, and are also funded by rich oligarchs. Biden as a senator voted for the bill preventing student loans being discharged during the same term under W. But the President isn’t King (I will say at least not until November this year), and can’t unilaterally write legislation.
John Oliver just had a good show student loans that talked about this program…
Something like 95% of people are denied for this program, and one woman had her servicer under charge her by $0.01 a month, and said none of those counted towards forgiveness. Another person had the same thing, challenged, and waited 3 years before her case was looked at. She had to keep making payments the whole time. But they fuck up so much, there’s an insane backlog.
So it’s good some people are getting forgiveness from this, but most of the people getting it now, were supposed to have already gotten it years ago. After years of having to keep making payments they likely don’t get refunded.
And it’s still barely even a rounding error in the total of 1.77 trillion.
There’s nothing wrong with being happy about this, but it’s nowhere near enough and it took a shit ton of noise for Biden to come this far. We can’t stop pushing or they’ll go back to ignoring it.
From personal experience, refunds aren’t off the table. My wife has been a nurse for over 10 years. She just got a refund check from the Treasury stating that she over paid on her student loans. It wasn’t an insignificant amount.
My issue is that these are years overdue, how does this man have a press conference every month about student loans, and every time its loans that would have been cancelled without him or should have been cancelled years ago. Which begs the next question, is it a win that it took three years in office to fix this? And next month when a new student loan press release comes out, what will be different?
Edited to Add because I already see downvotes and people think I am being excessive: March: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/21/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-nearly-6-billion-in-student-debt-cancellation-for-78000-public-service-workers/
No comment for November, I guess to avoid reminding people their loan repayments started.
Yeah, everything I’m seeing is we’re catching up to where we should have been years ago.
Which is better than ignoring it for another decade.
But it’s like being grateful some guy stopped kicking you in the nuts every five minutes and is only kicking the other 9 people in the nuts now.
Like, sure, I’d be happy it stopped. But still pissed it was happening to me and still happening to other people.
Plus it just feels like Biden is intentionally misrepresenting what is happening so he gets the best optics going into an election. He’s doing pretty much the bare minimum of the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Which again, is better than nothing.
But it’s not enough for him to be doing victory laps and calling himself the most progressive president ever.
All he did was stop kicking a few of us in the nuts every five minutes.
One thing to remember is the supreme Court blocked him from cancelling all student debt.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-biden/index.html
So the timeline (from my memory as I recall it):
- forgiveness program introduced several administrations ago for public service workers
- Trump administration found to essentially not forgiving any loans over technicalities
- Biden comes into office with promise to correct
- Biden tries to correct in 2022
- GOP sues
- Supreme court blocks Biden’s efforts in 2023, stating their method was overstepping their powers
- Biden administration uses existing executive powers to move forward with efforts
Dude tried a big one-and-done executive order, but the GOP Supreme Court swatted it down. That was pretty big news. So now he has to do the slower process of auditing lots of little opportunities in programs, departments, and laws that were ignored by his predecessors. And that takes time.
And they need to make press releases every damn time because Americans are not good at understanding nuance and cumulative impact.
Wait, are you seriously contending that making significant progress on repairing something that’s fundamentally broken and affects a large amount of people for an extended time isn’t a massively positive thing?
BoTh SiDeS!!1!!1!
I appreciate the efforts Biden is making here. I was looking forward to the $20k loan forgiveness for my wife’s student loans, but the new IBR plans reduced my monthly payments by 85% and has them going to be forgiven entirely in a few years. That right there sealed my vote for him, even though he hit roadblocks to the original plan.
Could you be so kind as to provide more information, especially concerning that 85% reduction in payments. The white house when introducing the new plan estimated a top reduction of 83% in payments if you managed to make the stars align for the maximum benefit. I am interested on how its going for an average person because people I know with loans have only had complaints and no reductions or relief.
Centrists didn’t want this. Progressives did. Biden listened to progressives. When he encountered a setback, he could have announced he tried and given up forever, and no one would have been surprised. Hell, it’s exactly what I expected would happen.
Instead he had a contingency plan ready to go and followed it up with other plans.
He listened to progressives and didn’t give up. This remains the high point of the Biden presidency.
Yes but are you aware of this conflict in the middle east? Checkmate /s
Yeah but my loans weren’t canceled!!! /s
Ok, but what about the price of gas? $3.38 a gallon to fill my massive truck I don’t need is killing my wallet. (on that one probably doesn’t need a /s)
In all seriousness, I agree, Biden continues to push hard for his agenda in a very productive way. Go Joe!
Yeah but my loans weren’t canceled!!! /s
Legitimately the argument that came out of my mother’s mouth.
I don’t understand the selfishness of not wanting loans cancelled for people. That money just ends up back in the economy because it’s no longer going straight to the banks.
