Joe Biden considering options for student debt forgiveness

Student Loan Adoption: President Biden’s Attitude on This Issue

President Joe Biden is considering how the US could handle student debt. Here he is on the subject.

Employee video, USA TODAY

The Demand: The Biden government has decided to cancel the student debt of $ 0

As the student loan cancellation debate continues, social media posts have surfaced claiming President Joe Biden will break his election promise to fight student debt.

During the presidential campaign, Candidate Biden pledged to address the $ 1.7 trillion debt crisis and pledged to make college more affordable and wipe out up to $ 10,000 for all borrowers.

“Biden just cut student debt relief to zero. That’s right, the Biden government has decided to cancel the $ 0 student debt, ”read a May 24 tweet from the Gravel Institute, a nonprofit named after former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, is named.

A screenshot of the tweet was shared in a post with more than 3,000 likes on Instagram on July 5. A response above the tweet reads, “Why did I vote for him.”

USA TODAY has requested a comment from the Instagram user.

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The Gravel Institute did not return a request for comment, but when a Twitter user asked for evidence, the account referred to a Forbes article titled “Biden Dropping Student Loan Offering From Latest Budget.”

Biden administration is examining student loan cancellation options

Biden’s budget proposal did not include a student loan waiver, but that doesn’t mean he decided not to cancel any student debt.

A subsequent tweet from the Gravel Institute said student loan waiver was not included in Biden’s budget proposal because Congress will not pass it, but “nothing prevents him” from signing an executive order to cancel the student debt himself.

However, legal experts say it’s not that easy, and the White House has hinted that Biden is still weighing whether to cancel student loans without the approval of Congress.

In April, Biden asked Education Minister Miguel Cardona to create a memo examining a president’s power to cancel federal student loans through action by the executive branch.

University expert Mark Kantrowitz told CNBC that Biden is likely to wait for the conclusions of the memo before seeking congressional support.

Even if the Department of Education says Biden has the legal authority to cancel broad student loan debt, it is unclear whether he would do so and what the amount of forgiveness would be. At a CNN town hall in February, Biden said, “I won’t do that,” when asked about the idea of ​​$ 50,000 forgiveness per student.

Similarly, in a May interview with The New York Times, Biden said, “The idea that you should go to Penn and pay a total of $ 70,000 a year and the public should pay for it? I do not agree.”

Biden has instead stated that he wants Congress to take action and supports the cancellation of up to $ 10,000 federal debt on student loans per borrower.

“This is something that Congress could take action on, and it would like to sign it,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a March 30 briefing. “We are examining our student loan options even more closely.”

The Department of Education has canceled student debt for borrowers with disabilities and for students who have been the victims of for-profit college fraud. The Biden government has canceled a total of $ 1.5 billion in student loan debt.

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On his first day in office, Biden also signed an executive order extending a hiatus in student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic until September 30th.

Our rating: wrong

Claiming that the Biden administration decided to cancel the $ 0 student debt is FALSE based on our research. Biden’s federal budget proposal for 2022 did not include cancellation of the student loan, but that doesn’t mean he has decided not to cancel any of the student loan debt. Biden is still considering options for forgiveness, such as examining his power to cancel student debt through executive action, and calling on Congress to cancel up to $ 10,000 debt per borrower.

Our fact check sources:

• Office of Management and Budget, May 28, FACT SHEET: The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2022
• Office of Management and Budget, May 28, U.S. Government Budget for Fiscal Year 2022
• Kiesinstitut, May 24th, tweet
• PolitiFact, June 14th Can the student loan debt be waived by presidential decree?
• White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Feb. 4, Tweet
• Politico, April 13, $ 50,000 in student loans would wipe out the national debt for 36 million euros, new data shows
• CNBC, May 24, Student debt relief is not included in Biden’s annual budget – which is why experts say this is “not surprising.”
• CNBC, Feb.17, “I Won’t Make It”: Biden Says He Will Not Support $ 50,000 Student Debt Relief
• Has Biden changed in the New York Times on May 20th? He tells us.
• Forbes, Feb. 17, Biden: I Support $ 10,000 Cancellation of Student Debt and “Eliminate Interest”
• White House, March 30, Press Conference by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, March 30, 2021
• Forbes, July 9th, Biden canceled $ 1.5 billion in student loan this way

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