President Joe Biden indicated in remarks to reporters during a Thursday press briefing that his administration will soon make a decision on student loan forgiveness — but borrowers shouldn’t expect to receive $50,000 in forgiveness.
“I am considering dealing with some debt reduction,” said Biden. “I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction, but I’m in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness, and I’ll have an answer on that in the next couple of weeks.”
The president’s comments come on the heels of a Monday meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in which he indicated that he would soon make a decision regarding student loans, according to a report from The Washington Post.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the president’s comments in a briefing Tuesday, stating that he “is looking at other executive authority options he has to bring relief to people who have student loans” and will make a decision before the current pause on loans ends Aug. 31.
During Monday’s meeting, the president was asked by Rep. Tony Cárdenas to extend the current moratorium on loan payments, as well as cancel $10,000 worth of student loans per person via executive order, the report says. He was “incredibly positive” to the suggestions, Rep. Cardenas told the Post. When pressed by other lawmakers, Biden also implied that he wanted to take action sooner rather than later to cancel some student loan debt, the Post reported. The president confirmed that sentiment to reporters Thursday, although he said he wasn’t currently considering a relief amount of $50,000 per borrower.
There is a total of $1.75 trillion in outstanding student loan debt in the US, a number that has more than tripled in the last 15 years. The extension announced in April is the sixth time the moratorium on payments has been extended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last three of them ordered by the Biden administration.
The expanded moratorium on loan payments is helping 41 million Americans save a collective $5 billion, according to the Department of Education. Over the past year, the Biden administration has taken other actions to help borrowers, such as amending the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to correct “historic failures” experienced by some borrowers, many of whom should have had their loans forgiven already but in many cases never received any debt relief.
Monday’s meeting with Democratic lawmakers signaled that the president is ready to head down a path to further student loan forgiveness, telling those present at the meeting they would be “very happy” with what he planned to do next, according to the Post.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
