The Biden administration is canceling $39 billion in student loan debt for more than 804,000 borrowers just weeks after the Supreme Court declared the president’s broader program unconstitutional.
Democrats say student loan forgiveness will motivate their base to turn out in the 2024 elections. Republicans accuse Mr. Biden of trying to circumvent the nation’s highest court for political gain.
The Education Department announced Friday that it would automatically cancel payments for qualified borrowers because of administrative “failures” in student loan programs over the years.
“For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress toward forgiveness,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve.”
The department said it would automatically cancel loan payments for borrowers affected by the errors whose debts should have been forgiven after 20 or 25 years.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected President Biden’s centerpiece program to forgive up to $20,000 in debt for 43 million federal student loan borrowers, a total of $400 billion.
The justices said it would have been the most expensive executive action in history. The high court ruled that the president had no authority to implement the plan without congressional approval.
Mr. Biden responded by saying he would provide a “new path” to relief.
Republicans reacted angrily to the administration’s so-called fixes to the loan programs so soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“The Biden administration’s blatantly political attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court is shameful,” said a statement by Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican and chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. “The Biden administration is trampling the rule of law, hurting borrowers, and abusing taxpayers to chase headlines. This president is dead set on ruining our postsecondary education financing system for a few votes next November, taxpayers and the rule of law be damned.”
The action Friday underscored Mr. Biden’s effort to make student debt relief a pillar of his reelection bid in 2024. Under Mr. Biden, the Education Department has forgiven more than $116 billion in federal debt for more than 3.4 million students.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts Democrat, said Mr. Biden needs to deliver the “transformative relief” of his larger plan that the Supreme Court shot down.
“It is very consequential,” she said on the CBS News podcast “The Takeout.”
“There is a great panic, financial panic for borrowers. Not only is this relief deeply needed and long overdue, it is very popular. It was a motivating issue in the midterms. I’m calling on President Biden to deliver the relief to the coalition that delivered them to the White House.”
She said the Supreme Court’s ruling “is not in keeping with the will of the majority of the people. They continue to make history for all the wrong reasons. They are legislating from the bench.”
Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, said the Congressional Budget Office estimated Friday that it would take $154 billion to shore up Social Security this year and Mr. Biden instead is devoting his attention to costly student loan forgiveness.
“Again & again he puts liberal elites before hardworking families & seniors,” Mr. Scott tweeted.
Mr. Biden said Republicans are guilty of “stunning” hypocrisy.
“Republican lawmakers — who had no problem with the government forgiving millions of dollars of their own business loans — have tried everything they can to stop me from providing relief to hardworking Americans,” the president said. “Some are even objecting to the actions we announced [Friday], which follows through on relief borrowers were promised but never given, even when they had been making payments for decades. The disregard for working- and middle-class families is outrageous.”
The Education Department announced in April 2022 that it would offer a one-time fix for any inaccuracies in borrowers’ repayment plans.
“At the start of this administration, millions of borrowers had earned loan forgiveness but never received it. That’s unacceptable,” Education Undersecretary James Kvaal said in a statement. “Today we are holding up the bargain we offered borrowers who have completed decades of repayment.”
The Education Department said the latest action “also addresses concerns about practices by loan servicers that put borrowers into forbearance in violation of Department rules.”
On June 30, the president asked Mr. Cardona to forgive other loans under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and suggested payment deferrals for other student borrowers based on income.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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