President Biden vowed to forge ahead on student loan forgiveness efforts for borrowers despite efforts by Republican lawmakers to derail his relief policies.
President Biden said Wednesday his administration has approved $9 billion more in student loan forgiveness as he pledged to continue to look for ways to deliver debt relief to borrowers despite opposition from conservatives.
“My administration will continue to use every tool at our disposal to help ease the burden of student debt so more Americans can be free to achieve their dreams,” Biden said during a briefing at the White House. “It’s good for our economy, it’s good for our country, and it’s going to change their lives.”
The debt cancellation announced Wednesday affects 125,000 borrowers benefiting from three existing federal relief programs. It comes as millions of people with federal student loans are resuming payments on their debt this month after a three-year pause because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Biden administration has continued to pursue targeted debt relief after the president’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for millions of borrowers faced legal challenges and was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. In the past two years, the administration has relaxed the rules or made adjustments to student debt relief programs for public servants, for defrauded students and for disabled borrowers. Years of mismanagement or exceedingly complex rules governing the programs had denied many borrowers a chance of having their loans forgiven.
The Education Department said Biden’s policy changes have resulted in nearly 3.6 million borrowers being approved for a total of $127 billion in debt cancellation.
