OAN’s Geraldyn Berry
5:09 PM – Friday, June 30, 2023
President Joe Biden unveiled additional steps on Friday to help Americans with their student loans and criticized the United States Supreme Court for rejecting a program that was aimed at delivering up to $20,000 of relief to millions of borrowers struggling with outstanding debt in a 6-7 vote.
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Republicans argued that Biden’s initial student-loan relief plan was unconstitutional and unfair.
“Biden’s student loan bailout unfairly punished Americans who already paid off their loans, saved for college, or made a different career choice,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “Americans saw right through this desperate vote grab, and we are thankful that the Supreme Court did as well.”
In July 2021, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not.”
“He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress” Peslosi said.
In a statement, the president said he believed the decision was “wrong” and “disappointing.”
“Today’s decision has closed one path. Now we’re going to start another,” Biden said. “I believe the court’s decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong. I’m not going to stop fighting to deliver borrowers what they need, particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale.”
Biden interviewed with reporters and said that his administration will seek to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt through a new route, the Higher Education Act, after being thwarted by the conservative-leaning court. The Education Department began a months-long regulatory “rulemaking” procedure, starting on October 1st , during which debtors will not be regarded as being in default for late or missing payments.
“I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families,” Mr. Biden said. “My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.”
According to the government, this will save students with undergraduate debts $1,000 year. As part of the broader plan, the Education Department established a scheme to lower the monthly payments that these borrowers must make from 10% of discretionary income to 5%.
With the goal of assisting community college graduates, loan forgiveness would be provided to students with debt of $12,000 or less after 10 years of payments as opposed to 20 years.
Progressive voters, who make up the coalition that supported Biden’s reelection in 2020, have long pressed the White House to handle student loan debt; the court’s ruling further heightened calls for more action.
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