The White House is leaning toward a plan that would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for people earning less than $125,000 per year, according to a report.
CNN reported on Monday that White House officials are “leaning toward” the plan that would tie student loan debt cancellation to the $125,000 income threshold, as well as considering the possibility of additional forgiveness for specific subsets of the population. A White House announcement on student loan forgiveness could come as early as Wednesday, according to the report.
EDUCATION SECRETARY SAYS ANNOUNCEMENT ON STUDENT LOANS COMING IN ‘NEXT WEEK OR SO’
The White House is facing a looming Aug. 31 deadline for when a pandemic-era moratorium on federal student loan payments is set to expire.
President Joe Biden has extended the payment pause four times since it was implemented in March 2020, most recently in April.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Sunday that the Biden administration is preparing to make a decision on student loans in the “next week or so” but declined to say if a final decision has been reached on whether to extend the 30-month-old student loans pause or announce steps to cancel a certain amount of borrowers’ debt.
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Some Republicans have raised ethical concerns over White House employees who may be supportive of debt cancellation, arguing that staffers who owe a collective total of $4.7 million in student loans would benefit. Other opponents of student loan debt forgiveness argue that it would contribute to rising college tuition costs and is unfair to the vast majority of people who don’t have any student loan debt or have already paid off their debts.
However, some Democrats have argued that the plans the Biden administration is reportedly considering don’t go far enough. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has called for a debt forgiveness figure as high as $50,000.
