President Joe Biden indicated his administration was open to further action on student debt relief during a Monday meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, according to a Washington Post report.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the president’s comments during a Tuesday briefing, saying he is “looking at other options of the executive authority he has to relieve people who have student loans” and will make a decision before the end of the current pause on loans. August 31.
At Monday’s meeting, Rep. Tony Cárdenas asked the president to extend the current moratorium on loan repayments, as well as cancel $10,000 in student loans per person by executive order, the report said. He was “incredibly positive” about the suggestions, Rep. Cardenas told the Post. Biden also hinted that he wanted to act as soon as possible to write off student loan debt under pressure from other lawmakers, the Post reported.
There is a total of $1.75 trillion in student loans in the United States, a number that has more than tripled over the past 15 years. It’s the sixth time payment moratorium has been extended since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last three of which were ordered by the Biden administration.
The extended moratorium on loan repayments is helping 41 million Americans save $5 billion, according to the Department of Education. Over the past year, the Biden administration has taken other steps to help borrowers, such as amending the civil service loan cancellation program to correct “historic failures” experienced by some borrowers, many of whom should have already had their loans canceled but, in many cases, never received debt relief.
Monday’s meeting with Democratic lawmakers signaled that the president is ready to go down the road of further student loan forgiveness, telling those present at the meeting that they would be “very happy” with what he planned to do next, according to the Post.
The White House immediately responded to a request for comment.