Despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that President Joe Biden does not unilaterally have the Executive Branch authority to forgive billions in federal student loans, he continues to do so anyway and without any legal or statutory consequences.
In its latest action, the Biden administration has approved an additional $5 billion in debt cancelation for roughly 74,000 student loan borrowers, the White House said in a statement Friday, Fox News reported.
Biden stated that a significant portion of the borrowers affected by his recent student loan debt relief measures are public sector employees, including teachers and firefighters, who will see their debt forgiven after 10 years of service in the public sector. Additionally, Biden noted that nearly 30,000 impacted borrowers had been in repayment for at least 20 years but had not received the relief they had earned through income-driven repayment plans.
The most recent installment of student debt forgiveness has brought the total amount canceled under Biden’s administration to $136.6 billion, affecting more than 3.7 million Americans, as reported by the Department of Education. It follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to halt Biden’s initial student loan forgiveness plan last year, which would have cost more than $400 billion.
“From Day One of my Administration, I vowed to improve the student loan system so that a higher education provides Americans with opportunity and prosperity – not unmanageable burdens of student loan debt,” Biden said. “I won’t back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need to reach their dreams.”
The extra debt forgiveness has been implemented as a result of adjustments carried out by the Biden administration to both the income-driven repayment forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs.
Republicans were outraged over the latest move.
“President Biden is downright desperate to buy votes before the election — so much so that he greenlights the Department of Education to dump even more kerosene on an already raging student debt fire,” said House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., in a statement.
