Student loan borrower activists and their allies ramped up a pressure campaign this week to convince President Biden to extend an ongoing pause on student loan payments, and enact broad student loan forgiveness. But time is running out for Biden to act.
Here’s the latest.
Student Loan Payment Pause Ends in Less Than Four Weeks
Most federal student loan payments have been paused for over two years since March 2020, when Congress passed the CARES Act in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The relief also froze interest on government-held federal student loans, and stopped collections efforts against defaulted federal student loan borrowers.
Originally scheduled to last six months, the CARES Act’s student loan relief was extended multiple times by President Trump and then President Biden. Biden’s most recent extension is set to end on May 1.
Student Loan Borrower Activists and Allies Dial Up The Pressure On Biden to Enact Student Loan Forgiveness
Student loan borrower activists groups are holding a protest today at the U.S. Department of Education, calling on Biden to extend the payment pause and cancel student loan debt using executive action.
“Resuming costly student debt payments after a two year pause will likely go down as the worst political decision ever made by the Biden administration,” said Braxton Brewington, spokesperson for the Debt Collective, a debtor’s union advocating for student loan borrowers and one of the organizing groups of today’s action. “Biden repeatedly touted plans to eliminate student debt on the campaign trail... At a time when costs for families are at a record high, the time to cancel student debt, narrow the racial wealth gap and boost our economy has never been more pressing.”
In a poll released last month by Data for Progress, over six in 10 respondents expressed support for extending the student loan payment pause to the end of the year. Nearly two-thirds of respondents in the same survey said they supported at least some level of across-the-board student loan forgiveness. In another poll released last week by the same polling organization, nearly 50% of respondents indicated that enacting anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 in broad student loan forgiveness would motivate them to vote in the midterm elections this November.
The Debt Collective has also threatened a nationwide student loan debt strike if Biden does not extend the student loan payment pause. The union has called on borrowers to find legal ways of paying $0 on their federal student loans if payments resume, such as by going into forbearance or applying for an income-driven repayment plan if their income is low.
Allies in Congress echoed the calls of the activists on the ground.
“Extending the student loan repayment pause and #CancellingStudentDebt would help millions of Americans, especially people of color, struggling to make ends meet,” tweeted House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), a key Biden ally, on Monday. “I proudly join nearly 100 of my colleagues in urging the Biden Admin to take swift action.”
“The student loan payment pause has got to be extended until at least 2023,” tweeted Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. “With rising costs and still building back from the pandemic, this is not the time to make borrowers start paying again.” Murray released a detailed plan last month calling on Biden to extend the payment pause through the rest of the year, and to then use that time to enact broad reforms to federal student loan repayment and forgiveness programs.
Will Biden Extend the Payment Pause and Cancel Student Debt?
So far, the Biden administration has not expressly signaled its intent, and federal student loan payments are set to resume in just 27 days. “Clearly a decision will need to be made” on student loan relief, said top White House officials last week. But it is unclear whether such a decision has already been made, and if so, when that information would be released to the public.
“The President is going to look at what we should do on student debt before the [payment] pause expires,” said White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain in an interview with Pod Save America last month. “Whether or not there is some executive action [on] student debt forgiveness when the payments resume is a decision we’re going to take before the payments resume.”
Further Student Loan Reading
4 Options For Biden To Legally Enact Student Loan Forgiveness Without Congress
Who Qualifies For $6 Billion In Student Loan Forgiveness Announced By Biden Administration
Biden Should Permanently Abolish Student Loan Interest, Says Key Senator
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