[ad_1]
After the Supreme Court annulled In the wake of President Biden’s plan to cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt, borrowers wondered how he would deliver on his promise to address the debt burdening millions of Americans.
The answer: I would do it little by little.
Mr. Biden on Wednesday canceled $1.2 billion in student loan debt, bringing the total amount he has eliminated during his tenure to $138 billion for 3.9 million borrowers. It’s a far cry from his initial plan, which would have canceled up to $400 billion in debt for about 43 million borrowers.
But even Biden’s critics acknowledge that he has gone further than any of his predecessors in easing the debt burden of millions of borrowers.
“It’s good for the economy as a whole,” Biden said Wednesday, addressing a small crowd at a library in Culver City, California. “By freeing millions of Americans from the crushing debt of student loan programs, it means they can finally get on with their lives.”
To avoid the Supreme Court decision, Biden has sought a more solution gradual approach, modifying existing programs that were long plagued by bureaucratic delays. The debt cancellation he announced on Wednesday was an example of this and affected some 150,000 borrowers enrolled in what is known as the SAVINGS planan income-driven repayment program, who have lower balances and have been making payments for at least a decade.
While his administration has periodically announced limited forms of debt cancellation over the past year, Biden’s decision to personally address the issue during a fundraising twist through California seemed to reflect the White House’s intention to get more credit for it. Democratic allies have been calling on the administration to emphasize debt cancellation to galvanize crucial constituencies, including young voters and Black borrowers who disproportionately bear that debt.
“Statistically, the most common experience with student debt is that you apply for relief, you thought you were going to get it, and then the Supreme Court overturned it, and Biden is touting relief, and you didn’t get any relief,” Braxton Brewington said. the press secretary for the Debt Collective, an advocacy group focused on student debt cancellation.
Rep. James E. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who helped resurrect Biden’s ailing 2020 primary campaign, said he was concerned that so many voters were focused on the sprawling package Biden had failed to deliver rather than what that he had done.
“Everywhere I went, students told me, ‘Joe Biden didn’t keep his promise of student debt relief,’” Clyburn said. “No one talked about the successes.”
The fight illustrates a broader challenge facing the White House, according to interviews with Democratic officials, loan aid advocates and voters. In many ways, Biden has become a victim of the high expectations set by his extensive initial proposals, leaving many voters disappointed by what he failed to pass, even as he has achieved important political victories on several fronts.
The president made the most ambitious investment in history to combat climate change, but polls have found that most Americans are unaware of his signature climate law. Despite a major stimulus bill and big investments in infrastructure and health, voters I don’t think he has achieved much.. And even many voters who supported Biden in 2020 are unimpressed with the economy, despite inflation and unemployment falling near record lows.
But Biden advisers believe canceling student debt can be a way to quickly improve the lives of some Americans and help turn the tide on their low approval ratings.
More limited measures have helped public service workers and people with disabilities. Last week, the Department of Education also released a proposal that would cancel student debt for additional borrowers who experience “difficulty” repaying their college loans.
In the round announced Wednesday, people in the SAVE plan who originally borrowed up to $12,000 and who have made at least 10 years of qualifying monthly payments will have their debt eliminated.
In a sign of the struggle to get credit for the efforts, the administration sent an email from Biden to affected borrowers on Wednesday informing them that their debt would be erased this week.
“If you qualify, you’ll hear from me shortly,” Biden said.
Brewington said Biden’s alternative approach had been “better than any other administration” on student debt.
But he said it would be a challenge for Biden to convince voters that he had met his student debt commitments when only a small portion of the tens of millions of people who initially thought they could benefit had their debt canceled.
The fact that it took more than a year for Biden to announce his sweeping plan to forgive student debt only raised expectations among voters, Brewington said. After predicting that he would cancel some student debt during the 2020 campaign, Biden agonized over the decision and repeatedly pressed members of his staff for data showing it would not be a gift to the rich.
“I understand that they want to talk about the work they’ve done on student debt, and I think they’re trying to have some nuance, but to some extent, it’s just not going to reach as many people,” Brewington said. aggregate. “Especially when you say ‘promises kept.’ I mean, my God.”
Biden’s ability to energize voters about canceling student debt is also hampered by the tumultuous launch of a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Delays and technical issues have hampered colleges’ ability to offer aid packages that millions of students, particularly low-income students, rely on to make college decisions.
Republicans have seized on that failed launch to accuse the White House of prioritizing campaign promises over policy implementation.
In a letter sent to Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona last month, Representatives Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Burgess Owens of Utah accused the department of focusing “its time and resources on transferring student debt to taxpayers in instead of faithfully implementing the laws enacted by Congress.”
To show the effect of his student loan relief efforts, Biden made an unannounced campaign stop last month at the home of Eric Fitts, a 49-year-old educator in North Carolina who had about $125,000 in loans canceled students. Instead of paying off the debt, he plans to invest in the college fund for his two children (who ate with Biden) and start a real estate business.
Speaking about his debt, Fitts said he told Biden “how much of a burden it was and how much of a barrier it was to certain things and opportunities.”
But Ashley Pizzuti, a student debt relief advocate tapped by the administration to help negotiate a regulation for greater forgiveness, said she understood why Biden faced more frustration than praise over student loans.
“There are a lot of people really upset, rightly so, because they were told they were going to get this pardon and it was taken back,” Pizzuti said of Biden’s plan that was blocked by the Supreme Court. “And a lot of people blame Biden for that.”
The result, Pizzuti said, is that “he didn’t do what he said he would do.”
Erica L. Green contributed reporting from Washington.
[ad_2]
Source link