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- Biden is reviewing his “legal authority” to write off student loan debt, his chief of staff said.
- Ron Klain said Biden asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to create a note on the matter.
- He said the memo will look at both student debt cancellation and cancellation.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
President Joe Biden is reviewing his “legal authority” to write off student loan debt of up to $ 50,000, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said in an interview with Politico Playbook on Thursday.
Klain told Politico Washington chief correspondent Ryan Lizza that Biden asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to create a note on the president’s legal authority to cancel student loans.
He wants the memo to look at both student loan forgiveness and debt forgiveness up to $ 50,000, Klain said.
Biden “will review this legal authority,” Klain said. “He’ll look at the policy issues around it, and he’ll make a decision. He hasn’t made a decision on this anyway, and, in fact, he hasn’t received the notes he needs yet. to begin with. focus on that decision. “
The $ 50,000 amount is significant because it is what Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts campaigned on and what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has since endorsed. Biden campaigned on an annulment of $ 10,000 per person. Warren and Schumer kept pressure on Biden to consider the higher amount, although he resisted.
In February, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would ask the Justice Department to review its power to write off $ 50,000 in debt. The President separately stated that he would support any legislation presented to him on the subject.
Warren said she didn’t want to go the legislative route. “We have a lot to do, including moving to infrastructure and all kinds of other things,” she said on a press call last month. “I have legislation to do it, but for me that is just not a reason to wait. The president can do it, and I really hope he will.”
Schumer rejected Biden’s rhetoric of executive non-intervention. “While it is legally acceptable to make a small amount, it is legally acceptable to make a larger one,” Schumer said during a press call.
Biden’s education department has tackled the country’s $ 1.7 trillion student debt crisis. On March 18, Cardona forgave the debt of around 72,000 borrowers who had been defrauded by for-profit schools, and on Monday he forgave the debt of more than 41,000 totally and permanently incapacitated borrowers. Cardona also extended the pause on student debt payments through September to 1.14 million borrowers with private loans under the federal family education loan program.
Biden has not provided a deadline for revising his executive powers to cancel the debt, but progressive lawmakers are adamant that the issue requires special attention.
Schumer said monday, “We ask you, email, call, write to President Joseph Robinette Biden and tell him you want this done.”
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