Biden brags about cutting $138 billion in student debt in front of the Supreme Court and promises to give public teachers a raise
- Biden has canceled nearly $4 million worth of $138 billion since taking office
- The Supreme Court blocked Biden’s first student loan cancellation plan last year
- The government is working on other ways to forgive debts after the court blocked the original plan
- An educator who benefited from government loan forgiveness was a guest of First Lady Jill Biden during the State of the Union address
- Republican critics have blasted efforts to unfairly burden taxpayers
President Joe Biden has bragged about wiping out $138 billion in federal student loans since taking office, despite the Supreme Court blocking his student loan forgiveness plan.
The president praised the debt cancellation Thursday evening during his State of the Union address, just steps away from where the Supreme Court justices were in attendance.
“When I was told I couldn’t simply universally change the way we take on student loan debt, I codified two student loan programs that already existed to reduce the burden of student debt on nearly four million Americans, including nurses, firefighters and others in the US. public service,” Biden said.
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled against Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of Americans. But Biden vowed to keep fighting in other ways.
So far, he has forgiven the student loans of nearly 3.9 million borrowers, despite the Supreme Court striking down his plan last June.
President Biden, during his State of the Union address, praised the cancellation of student debt for four million Americans since he took office
Keenan Jones (left), who benefited from the government loan forgiveness program, attended the State of the Union address as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden
Some of the steps the White House has taken include changes to government loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment programs.
One of First Lady Jill Biden’s guests at Thursday’s State of the Union address was Keenan Jones, a public school teacher from Minnesota who took advantage of the federal government’s loan forgiveness program and got a shoutout from the president.
“He has trained hundreds of students so they can go to college. Now, after debt forgiveness, he can help put his own daughter through college,” Biden said.
“Such relief is good for the economy because people can now buy a house, start a business and start a family,” the president continued.
During his State of the Union address, Biden also called for a pay raise for public school teachers, a line that drew cheers from some members in the audience.
“While we’re at it, I want to give public school teachers a raise,” Bide said.
But while Biden has pledged to work to cancel more student loan debt, his efforts have not been without criticism.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stands next to President Biden at the White House after the Supreme Court blocked the president’s original $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan
The Biden administration has been working on several ways to cancel student loan debt after the Supreme Court blocked the previous plan, including launching the SAVE plan and going through the regulatory process.
Republicans and some critics have rejected the move to cancel student loan debt, arguing that it is a burden on taxpayers who choose not to take out student loans or pursue an expensive college education, and an excess of the authority of the president.
But advocates calling for student loan forgiveness celebrated the president’s inclusion of the issue in his annual address.
“The Biden administration has now canceled the most student loan debt in American history,” said Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center.
“Behind these numbers are real Americans whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to the Biden administration’s efforts to address the student loan debt crisis,” Pierce continued.
The group said the president must finalize and implement his plan.
The administration is working on the regulatory process for further student loan debt forgiveness.
Last month, the White House announced it would begin forgiving debt for borrowers enrolled in the new Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.
The SAVE plan is an income-driven repayment plan for borrowers who have been making payments for at least ten years and originally withdrew $12,000 or less for college.
Going forward, the Ministry of Education will continue to regularly identify and forgive student loan debt under the plan.
Republicans have tried to block the plan but don’t have the numbers in Congress to do so.