After the US Supreme Court struck down his administration’s plan to cancel federal student loan debts for millions of Americans, President Joe Biden has unveiled a “new path” for relief, one that he assured is “legally sound” but will “take longer”.
On Friday, the Education Department issued the first step in a regulatory process to rely on the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt.
Under the plan unveiled by the Biden administration last year, millions of people who took out federally backed student loans would be eligible for up to $20,000 in relief.
Since March 2020, with congressional passage of the Cares Act, monthly payments on student loan debt have been frozen with interest rates set at zero per cent.
Over the last decade, the student loan debt crisis has exploded to a balance of nearly $2 trillion, most of which is wrapped up in federal loans.
Like Mr Biden, the education secretary slammed GOP officials for having accepted aid for their own businesses while opposing student debt relief, and he slammed the Supreme Court for having stepped in to stop the relief initiative.
He also named Kentucky Representative Brett Guthrie and noted that Mr Guthrie had taken $4.4 million in forgiven PPP loans while opposing student debt relief for the 90,000 eligible borrowers in his district. »
