Biden admin forges ahead with student loan debt ‘forgiveness’ by ‘canceling’ $6 billion for 78,000 public service workers
The Biden administration continues to announce additional rounds of federal student loan debt “forgiveness” despite the Supreme Court’s ruling last year.
On Thursday, the White House issued a press release declaring another $6 billion in debt cancellations.
“Today, my Administration is cancelling student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers — teachers, nurses, firefighters, and more — through Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” Biden announced. “These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law.”
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. Its goal was to encourage more Americans to seek employment in the public service sector.
The White House’s press release noted that the Biden administration has wiped out federal student loan debt for 870,000 public service workers. Previous administrations combined only provided relief to 7,000 workers, according to the announcement.
Biden touted that he has "canceled" debt for four million Americans since taking office. Last year, the administration attempted to unilaterally eliminate $10,000 of federal student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 annually and married couples making less than $250,000 annually. In June, the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s plan, which would have canceled approximately $430 billion of debt for borrowers.
Since the ruling, the administration has continued to pursue its goal of providing so-called debt forgiveness through smaller, similar programs that pass the burden to all American taxpayers. So far, Biden has zeroed out $143.6 billion in debt for student loan borrowers.
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on my Administration’s original student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” Biden said.
The administration has made it clear that it aims to continue to offer student debt cancellations to as many borrowers as possible.
A January Intelligent.com survey revealed that many borrowers refuse to pay back their student loans to pressure the administration to zero out all debt. According to the study, which polled 1,000 federal student loan borrowers, six in 10 individuals have missed a payment since the federal government ended the payment pause in October. It found that 25% of borrowers have not made a single payment and only 40% have made all their monthly payments.
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