The Biden-Harris Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan introduced in August 2022 promised to cancel $10,000 worth of student loan debt for non-Pell Grant borrowers and up to $20,000 to those who received Pell Grants, according to a statement from the White House. Those plans have been thwarted by a recent decision of the U.S Supreme Court.
President Joe Biden addressed the Court’s rejection of his long-awaited student loan debt relief program at a press conference held on Friday (June 30).
“I believe the Court’s decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong,” said President Biden. “I’m not going to stop fighting to deliver borrowers what they need, particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale.”
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the Biden Administration will initiate a new approach to mitigate the mounting debt that students are experiencing and the anticipated burden of monthly repayments coming due in October 2023. The “new path” will “compromise, waive, or release” some student loans on a case-by-case basis under the authority of the Higher Education Act.
Biden also mentioned a program called the On-Ramp Repayment Program, a temporary 12-month plan that will remove the threat of going into default or adverse credit reporting in the case of a borrower not being able to make required monthly payments.
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The President attributes the struggle of rolling out debt relief to millions of Americans after the brunt of the pandemic and economic upheaval to unrelenting Republicans who prefer to support business owners over consumers.
President Biden continued, “These Republican officials just couldn’t bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans…Republican state officials sued my administration, attempted to block relief including millions of their own constituents. Republicans in Congress voted to overturn the plan…At the same time, think about this, we all supported the Paycheck Protection Program?”
Before President Biden could end the press conference, a reporter read the very question that’s on many borrowers’ minds when she asked President Biden about his thoughts on giving “millions of borrowers false hope,” to which he strongly refuted.
“I didn’t give any false hope!” said President Biden. “The question was whether or not I would do even more than what was requested. What I did I thought was appropriate…I didn’t give borrowers false hope, but the Republicans snatched away the hope that was given.”
The relief plan, estimated to cost $400 billion, would have alleviated debt for more than 43 million borrowers.
Watch the press conference below:
Happening Now: President Biden delivers remarks on the Supreme Court’s decision on the Administration’s student debt relief program. https://t.co/PASsUC0W6K
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 30, 2023
