President Joe Biden is facing a barrage of criticism over his administration’s intentions to restore student loan payments for millions of American residents in the weeks that are coming, The Hill reports.
The White House has faced considerable criticism in recent days, with activists and progressives pleading with the administration to postpone, or perhaps cancel, a February deadline for ending a nationwide deferral on student loan payments.
Under a moratorium issued by then-President Trump in March 2020, student loan payments were originally halted countrywide, and the suspension was extended multiple times between the Trump and Biden administrations.
The hold was recently extended by Biden in the summer, until January 31, 2022, in what the administration called the “last extension.” In recent days, despite mounting requests from progressives for a new extension in light of the spreading epidemic, the White House has remained firm in its stance.
Those remarks have sparked outrage on social media and added fire to progressives’ call for the president to utilize his executive authority to erase student loan debt unilaterally.
Biden has previously advocated for individuals to be able to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt, stating in February that he was “willing to wipe off” the amount, but rejecting requests from other prominent Democrats to go higher or eliminate all federal student loans totally.
Democrats disagree, though, on whether Biden has the authority to act unilaterally on the subject.
In Biden’s first year in office, his administration boasted that “more than $11.5 billion in loan cancellation for over 580,000 borrowers” had been approved. However, only some debtors are eligible for forgiveness, such as those with total and permanent impairments, those who attended now-defunct schools, and public servants.
Many people have applauded the administration’s efforts thus far.
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