President Biden’s power is going to his head. Especially with his latest move.
And the Supreme Court Justices are utterly stunned by Biden disobeying their court order.
The newest wave of cancellations of student loans was announced on Friday by President Joe Biden in a statement released by the White House.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Biden v. Nebraska, which invalidated the Biden administration’s plan to cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for all borrowers, the Biden administration has been looking into other debt cancellation options, the most prominent of which is the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which was settled upon by the Department of Education on the same day as the court order was issued. Borrowers with amounts under $12,000 and a repayment history of at least 10 years will have their SAVE plan balances cancelled by February, according to Biden.
“This action will particularly help community college borrowers, low-income borrowers, and those struggling to repay their loans,” Biden penned. “In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on our student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.”
Imagine checking your student debt balance and seeing $0.00.
Starting next month, many Americans enrolled in our SAVE plan will join the already 3.6 million who have seen their student debt cancelled by my Administration through various actions. pic.twitter.com/EH1S5aXD2Y
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 12, 2024
Undergraduates who take out loans under Biden’s SAVE program are limited to paying back no more than five percent of their discretionary income each month; in fact, some borrowers may be able to pay nothing at all. Per the White House’s news announcement, “3.9 million borrowers have a $0 monthly payment,” and 6.9 million borrowers are already part of the program.
Conservatives see student debt forgiveness schemes as socialist dreams since they let taxpayers—including those without a bachelor’s degree, forgive loans taken out by young borrowers with a bachelor’s degree, who make up a sizable portion of the Democratic voting majority. The SAVE proposal put out by Biden was swiftly met with legal opposition from a variety of libertarian and conservative organizations; the matter is currently being heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The report states that nearly 3.6 million debtors have been granted debt forgiveness in some way since Biden took office on January 20, 2021. The White House has announced that a total of $132 billion will be forgiven so far.
The current administration has also pushed for new regulations that would make it easier for people to get affordable housing and other government services while they have outstanding student loans. “We know debt disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people in this country. That is why we introduced changes to how potential homebuyers’ rental history is considered, and how their student loan debt is calculated so more people can qualify for affordable housing financing,” a Biden official for the Housing and Urban Development agency wrote on Twitter, also known as X.
We know debt disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people in this country.
That is why we introduced changes to how potential homebuyers' rental history is considered, and how their student loan debt is calculated so more people can qualify for affordable housing financing.
— Secretary Marcia L. Fudge (@SecFudge) January 6, 2024
When the COVID-19 pandemic lifted the moratorium on student loan repayments in October 2023, 8.8 million borrowers were still behind on their initial installments.
Conservatives, however, are pointing the fingers at the Biden administration for giving millions of Americans the hope that they would have their student loans either partially or totally forgiven.
You may remember that the Biden administration announced his administration’s student debt “forgiveness” plan back in late August of 2022.
That was conveniently right before the critical midterm elections in which the Democrats were bound to lose ground in terms of power in the legislative branch in Congress.
The Democrats did lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives, but surprised the nation when they gained a seat in the U.S. Senate when they were expected to lose seats overall.
Come 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court would rule that the Biden administration’s student debt “forgiveness” plan was unconstitutional, arguing that they needed to get Congressional approval first.
Immediately Biden’s young supporters with student loan debt felt lied to by the Biden administration and President Biden’s approval ratings continued to tank, partially because his lies to his own voting base caught up to him.
Now they are desparate to get some of that goodwill back by trying to cancel as much student debt as possible, even if the means are in spirit a violation of the Supreme Court’s order from 2023.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
