Pretty much giving away money to get people to vote for you & your party. While giving the finger to any families and students that worked hard to pay for college or worked hard to quickly pay down their loans. Does Biden even have the legal and/or constitutional authority to unilaterally do this? Forgiving loans for for-profit scam schools backed by court decisions is one thing -- but this is something totally different.
Coupled with the reality that most of those with loans being forgiven are well-to-do middle class people --- and the majority are not minorities.
Biden to cancel up to $10,000 in student debt for most borrowers and $20,000 for Pell recipients
The president is also set to extend a pause on federal student loan payments through Dec. 31
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/24/biden-student-loan-cancellation/
White House officials are planning to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for recipients of Pell Grants as part of their broader announcement on Wednesday of student debt forgiveness, four people familiar with the matter said.
The extra debt forgiveness for Pell recipients would be in addition to the expected cancellation of up to $10,000 in student debt for most other borrowers. The White House’s plans are only expected to apply to Americans earning under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for married couples who file taxes jointly, the people familiar said.
Roughly 43 million federal student loan borrowers would be eligible for some level of forgiveness, including 20 million who could have their debt completely canceled, according to internal documents shared with The Washington Post. The White House estimates that 90 percent of relief will go to people earning less than $75,000.
The president is also expected to announce that he will extend a pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments that was first implemented under the Trump administration. That moratorium will now be extended until Dec. 31, or beyond the midterm elections, the people said.
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private White House conversations and cautioned the details could change. President Biden is returning to Washington for the announcement today.
The announcement would put to rest months of deliberation over whether Biden would use his executive authority to forgive a portion of the federal student debt burden. It arrives ahead of congressional midterm elections and could give the Democrats a boost with some voters, but also threaten their standing with those who say the amount is not enough — or too much.
Biden has drawn the ire of activists and some student loan borrowers
who were growing tired of promises of a decision that stretched over more than a year. Biden had previously expressed reluctance to grant forgiveness to people who attended elite universities, while moderate Democrats and Republicans derided the policy as fiscally irresponsible.
The decision to add additional forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients reflects the White House’s desire to limit debt relief to Americans most in need. Seven in 10 college graduates with federal loans also received a Pell Grant, and Pell recipients have on average an additional $4,500 more debt than other college graduates, according to the Institute for College Access & Success, an advocacy organization.
“It’s great to see the president take action to forgive the crushing debt burdens of borrowers from the most disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think-tank.
The White House’s decision rejects the warnings of centrist Democratic economists — such as Larry Summers, the former Democratic treasury secretary — who have said it will increase inflation and add to the federal deficit. Republican lawmakers are also expected to blast the White House over the move, arguing it offers unnecessary subsidies to Americans who made bad decisions while doing nothing for those who did not go to college.
Previous estimates have found that canceling $10,000 in student debt per borrower could cost the federal government roughly $230 billion, but that number will be higher with the larger amount for Pell Grant recipients.
“Canceling student debt is expensive, inflationary, and unfair to those who paid their student loans and most likely illegal,” said Brian Riedl, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, a center-right think-tank. “It does nothing to prevent universities from raising costs and students from borrowing more money in anticipation of future loan forgiveness
This is a developing news story and will be updated
