Since assuming office in 2021, President Biden has taken a piecemeal approach to the debt crisis, not only extending the ongoing pause on student loan payments started in the early months of the COVID pandemic, but also:
- overhauling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program,
- expanding criteria for loan forgiveness for students who have been defrauded,
- and broadening loan discharges for people with “total and permanent” disabilities.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden ran on a platform of incremental loan relief — but not nearly to the degree some of his fellow Democratic candidates wanted.
All told, the Biden administration has canceled about $17 billion in student loan debt already — more than any other president in history.
Recently, the White House began hinting that further student loan cancelation could still happen on or before the Aug. 31 deadline for payments to resume.
Still, the president cautioned that he’s not looking at canceling up to $50,000 per borrower — an announcement that sparked immediate backlash.
It’s a racial justice one too. Black families, and especially Black women, are impacted by student loan debt at a disproportionately higher rate than other demographics. Accordingly, canceling student debt could help narrow the racial wealth gap.
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has been among the progressives leading the charge for at least “some sort of relief.”