The White House has approved nearly $144 billion in federal loan forgiveness for about 4 million borrowers in total, according to the administration.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the White Househas approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for thousands of public service workers.
The 78,000 eligible public service workers include teachers, nurses and firefighters, according to the White House.
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It’s the latest student debt cancellation move through Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, which allow eligible borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven if they have made a certain number of payments and are working for approved employers.
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Last year, the Supreme Court invalidated Biden’s more far-reaching student loan debt relief plan, arguing that it was unlawful because Congress did not explicitly approve the move.
John Oliver just had a good show student loans that talked about this program…
Something like 95% of people are denied for this program, and one woman had her servicer under charge her by $0.01 a month, and said none of those counted towards forgiveness. Another person had the same thing, challenged, and waited 3 years before her case was looked at. She had to keep making payments the whole time. But they fuck up so much, there’s an insane backlog.
So it’s good some people are getting forgiveness from this, but most of the people getting it now, were supposed to have already gotten it years ago. After years of having to keep making payments they likely don’t get refunded.
And it’s still barely even a rounding error in the total of 1.77 trillion.
There’s nothing wrong with being happy about this, but it’s nowhere near enough and it took a shit ton of noise for Biden to come this far. We can’t stop pushing or they’ll go back to ignoring it.
From personal experience, refunds aren’t off the table. My wife has been a nurse for over 10 years. She just got a refund check from the Treasury stating that she over paid on her student loans. It wasn’t an insignificant amount.
So she got forgiveness, and then got the refund?
Yeah, I figured with the forgiveness aspect they’d just be canceling the remaining
That’s awesome they’re making it right if that’s the case
My issue is that these are years overdue, how does this man have a press conference every month about student loans, and every time its loans that would have been cancelled without him or should have been cancelled years ago. Which begs the next question, is it a win that it took three years in office to fix this? And next month when a new student loan press release comes out, what will be different?
Edited to Add because I already see downvotes and people think I am being excessive: March: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/21/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-nearly-6-billion-in-student-debt-cancellation-for-78000-public-service-workers/
No comment for November, I guess to avoid reminding people their loan repayments started.
Wait, are you seriously contending that making significant progress on repairing something that’s fundamentally broken and affects a large amount of people for an extended time isn’t a massively positive thing?
I was promised sweeping changes and got more of the same except with trumpets (press releases), the emperor has no clothes.
If it was so broken before that people who had earned it weren’t getting the benefit and now they are, that’s “more of the same”?
wanted chocolate and got strawberry
Dude tried a big one-and-done executive order, but the GOP Supreme Court swatted it down. That was pretty big news. So now he has to do the slower process of auditing lots of little opportunities in programs, departments, and laws that were ignored by his predecessors. And that takes time.
And they need to make press releases every damn time because Americans are not good at understanding nuance and cumulative impact.
One thing to remember is the supreme Court blocked him from cancelling all student debt.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-biden/index.html
So the timeline (from my memory as I recall it):
- forgiveness program introduced several administrations ago for public service workers
- Trump administration found to essentially not forgiving any loans over technicalities
- Biden comes into office with promise to correct
- Biden tries to correct in 2022
- GOP sues
- Supreme court blocks Biden’s efforts in 2023, stating their method was overstepping their powers
- Biden administration uses existing executive powers to move forward with efforts
Could you provide sources for points 2 and 3? The Trump admin actually tried to simplify all the programs into just two, standard and IBR (income based repayment like the SAVE plan) and allowed for processing of cancellations. That administration also managed to use their executive power to eliminate student loan debt for disabled veterans source. Since then Biden has managed to ignore legal advice and precedent to throw up his hands and say he can’t do anything for student loans. The same individual says he will stop Israel by never stopping them, it’s tiring to hear people still have any faith in his words when is whole history is talking out both sides of his mouth. He was cancelled from running for president in 1988 for being a liar NYT Video and yet if I say he is lying, everyone jumps down my throat.
Yes they should have been cancelled years ago, and every other administration that could, didn’t, or did it slowly. He is. Paperwork takes time, so is likely running through backlog.
I’ll give him this; previous presidents weren’t getting it done. Even though it was law. So yeah on one hand, yay he’s following the law… On the other hand this program has been cursed since Bush jr.
You’re getting downvotes bc the pro-fasch shltbots are out in full force , not bc anyone is mAkInG a LoGicAl aRGuMent.
Their work shifts got doubled when people came here from Reddit. Social media is choked with this opinion-influencing bs
Yeah, everything I’m seeing is we’re catching up to where we should have been years ago.
Which is better than ignoring it for another decade.
But it’s like being grateful some guy stopped kicking you in the nuts every five minutes and is only kicking the other 9 people in the nuts now.
Like, sure, I’d be happy it stopped. But still pissed it was happening to me and still happening to other people.
Plus it just feels like Biden is intentionally misrepresenting what is happening so he gets the best optics going into an election. He’s doing pretty much the bare minimum of the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Which again, is better than nothing.
But it’s not enough for him to be doing victory laps and calling himself the most progressive president ever.
All he did was stop kicking a few of us in the nuts every five minutes.
Centrists didn’t want this. Progressives did. Biden listened to progressives. When he encountered a setback, he could have announced he tried and given up forever, and no one would have been surprised. Hell, it’s exactly what I expected would happen.
Instead he had a contingency plan ready to go and followed it up with other plans.
He listened to progressives and didn’t give up. This remains the high point of the Biden presidency.
Yes but are you aware of this conflict in the middle east? Checkmate /s
Yeah but my loans weren’t canceled!!! /s
Ok, but what about the price of gas? $3.38 a gallon to fill my massive truck I don’t need is killing my wallet. (on that one probably doesn’t need a /s)
In all seriousness, I agree, Biden continues to push hard for his agenda in a very productive way. Go Joe!
Yeah but my loans weren’t canceled!!! /s
Legitimately the argument that came out of my mother’s mouth.
I don’t understand the selfishness of not wanting loans cancelled for people. That money just ends up back in the economy because it’s no longer going straight to the banks.
My preferred response to those arguments is just this comic.
Man I would love to have gas at $3.38 a gallon. It’s been floating back to $4-5 here ($4.09 at Costco is the cheapest around me)
No one cares
Don’t put words in my mouth just because you don’t want Biden to be subject to any scrutiny.
I’m happy with him when he listens to progressives and doesn’t give up. Which has pretty much been this one issue.
I appreciate the efforts Biden is making here. I was looking forward to the $20k loan forgiveness for my wife’s student loans, but the new IBR plans reduced my monthly payments by 85% and has them going to be forgiven entirely in a few years. That right there sealed my vote for him, even though he hit roadblocks to the original plan.
Could you be so kind as to provide more information, especially concerning that 85% reduction in payments. The white house when introducing the new plan estimated a top reduction of 83% in payments if you managed to make the stars align for the maximum benefit. I am interested on how its going for an average person because people I know with loans have only had complaints and no reductions or relief.
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Still haven’t affected me yet but I’m glad there’s some forgiveness. I just keep waiting for mental health practitioners forgiveness. Since most don’t work in “non profit” hospitals they have been missing out on the forgiveness. Even though most make little when large amounts of debt from maters programs.
I’m still happy there is some forgiveness though
Reading comments on Youtube and so forth, I actively lose brain cells. Fun facts to counter sour right-wing talking-points:
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Those forgiven under this fall under the DoE’s discretion in lieu of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program that was legislation signed into law under… George W. Bush. The Biden Administration is just streamlining and actively using a system that was already in place but unused.
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It’s nice to see the working class get bailed out for once instead of banks and big corporations.
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Tuition has risen since the boomers’ time, and in addition to that unregulated private diploma mills have taken advantage of many people all the while contributing to degree-inflation.
Edit: You guys are too kind to have not pointed that out lmao.
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Is this the cancel culture I keep hearing about?
if this is “cancel culture” then give me more
BoTh SiDeS!!1!!1!
Had student loan debt and the chance to become a public servant at the beginning of my career. It would’ve meant making regular payments for a long time until eventually the debt was forgiven. It also would’ve meant sticking with the government and the low government salary. I decided I didn’t trust the government to actually forgive the loans and why make that bet when the government salary is low anyway?
Under Trump, the DoE basically thumbed its nose at people in this program and claimed only some handful actually qualified. I took that as a sign that I was right.
In any case, I’m glad to see people actually getting their loan forgiveness, even if it is a bad deal.
The original Bill Clinton idea was to forgive loans for public service.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the White House has approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for thousands of public service workers.
“These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a statement touting the move.
“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fix broken student loan programs and make sure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” Biden continued.
“I won’t back down from using every tool at my disposal to deliver student debt relief to more Americans, and build an economy from the middle out and bottom up.”
Starting next week, the White House will also email about 380,000 borrowers to inform them that they are on track to have student debt canceled within two years.
Last year, the Supreme Court invalidated Biden’s more far-reaching student loan debt relief plan, arguing that it was unlawful because Congress did not explicitly approve the move.
The original article contains 275 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 33%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
5 digits worth of people with 10 digits worth of debt? What a scam
In totality, Biden has forgiven billions in loans for over 3 million people.
Source: John Oliver’s. I think it’s called Last Week Tonight.
A lot of these should have already been forgiven but weren’t because of shady reporting processes by loan processors. That should be investigated and stopped
Gotta do something to offset the bad press from genocide
Well you know what? This topic has nothing to do with genocide.
More money going to the steadily employed and no missed payments crew, i.e. those who need relief the least.
I wish I got this much credit for half assedly fixing problems I helped create.
Imagine trying to do practically anything but you have some guy in football gear that’s trying to block you from going anywhere or doing anything, even something as simple as replacing a lightbulb becomes difficult.
With the level of obstruction Biden’s administration has faced from Republicans over his term, in the courts and especially their non-functional House of Representatives, I’d say he’s managed to accomplish a hell of a lot when you put that into consideration.
I know you were being metaphorical, but Tommy Tuberville nearly brings your scenario to life. It’d be hilarious if it wasn’t real life.
With the level of obstruction Biden’s administration has faced from Republicans over his term
From Republicans and Democrats alike. Let’s not pretend we didn’t all see what happened with BBB.
I agree that Democrats are part and parcel with the languid bureaucracy, and are no less bought out by business interests. However, only one side is concerned with functioning as a government, compromise, and being accountable to their constituents and it’s not the Republicans.
Compromise with who? This is dem code for giving republicans everything and more. And in some cases (like the recent border security bill), it’s still not enough.
I’d much prefer to see some democrats with a spine, instead of pandering to right wing lunatics, how about they propose and lead with their own policies instead? Dems are still hanging their hats on the Republican healthcare bill that shoveled 25mil Americans right into the pockets of insurance companies, ffs. Is that what accountability to constituents looks like? Because it seems much more like accountability to their donors.
See my other response:
portion of other response
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Don’t get me wrong, Democrats have been sitting on their hands, taking the high road and killing progressive reforms in the name of “compromise” for many years now, and are also funded by rich oligarchs. Biden as a senator voted for the bill preventing student loans being discharged during the same term under W. But the President isn’t King (I will say at least not until November this year), and can’t unilaterally write legislation.
Democratic senators are introducing legilslation, some of them progressive like Sanders’ 32 h work week law. In the house they propose bills but none will get to the floor without Johnson’s approval.
Right, this is kind of my point. Dems are far too acquiescent to Republican framing. The news-media is wholly complicit in this as well, but that’s another matter.
Instead of fear mongering about orange man bad, why not galvanize support behind actual progressive policies (which are extremely popular btw)? Where are the Dems repeatedly and loudly asking republicans about the last time they proposed any legislation at all that would meaningfully improve the lives of their constituents, ideally in those Repugs’ own districts where it would get free local news coverage and be seen by voters? Instead they’re content to play the republican games, and “slam” them on msnbc for repeatedly failing to impeach Biden or some such nonsense. This isn’t reaching voters and won’t do anything to garner independent votes in November. The Dems maintaining the status quo is enough to convince many of us that their true goal is for “nothing to fundamentally change.”
The president isn’t king, thankfully you’re right about that. Monarchists can fuck off. But the president can wield a tremendous amount of power and influence via the bully pulpit. We don’t see that from Biden, and it’s a shame, because we could really benefit from an energetic and engaged leader at this time. Instead it looks like more of a competition to see who can lose the least amount of supporters before November…very disheartening. When can we have leaders who will actually fight for us?
Instead of fear mongering about orange man bad, why not galvanize support behind actual progressive policies (which are extremely popular btw)? Where are the Dems repeatedly and loudly asking republicans about the last time they proposed any legislation at all that would meaningfully improve the lives of their constituents, ideally in those Repugs’ own districts where it would get free local news coverage and be seen by voters
…When can we have leaders who will actually fight for us?
You raise very good questions that I do not have the answers to. As a generation the best I can think of is to fight back both at the ballot box and organize in the streets.
This isn’t a new program, it’s an extension of a program signed into law by GWB. Go ahead and tell me all about how the republicans are obstructing it though. While you’re at it, go look up who’s responsible for making it impossible to discharge student loan debt through bankruptcy.
It’s pretty obvious to me that no progress has happened with Republicans in Congress hell-bent on not passing helpful legislation as that would upset their dear leader. The only way a President can make good on their promises without them is by executive order, which is expanding, enforcing or interpreting existing signed legislation by Congress from present and previous administrations. That’s how it works. His big bid to give everyone 10 to 20k in forgiveness, using the 2002 HEROES act was overruled by conservative’s favourite Supreme Court, so he is trying any other avenue he can find without predatory loan businesses suing it away again.
Don’t get me wrong, Democrats have been sitting on their hands, taking the high road and killing progressive reforms in the name of “compromise” for many years now, and are also funded by rich oligarchs. Biden as a senator voted for the bill preventing student loans being discharged during the same term under W. But the President isn’t King (I will say at least not until November this year), and can’t unilaterally write legislation.
Most people don’t read history. Anyone who has read Biden’s record in the Senate would know he’s an unbelievable piece of shit. It scares me how little people read about the actions of people they support.
