Biden to revise executive authority to cancel student debt

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to prepare a note on the president’s legal authority to cancel student debt, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on Thursday as the administration is exerting increasing pressure to resolve the student loan crisis crippling millions of Americans.

In an interview with Politico, Klain said Biden will make a decision on how to proceed once he reviews the memo, which could be sent to his office in the coming weeks.

“He’ll look at that legal authority, he’ll look at the policy issues around it, and then he’ll make a decision,” Klain said. “He hasn’t made a decision on this anyway, in fact, he hasn’t received the grades he needs to start focusing on this decision yet.”

Klain’s comments come as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., And other Democrats on Capitol Hill pressure Biden to cancel up to $ 50,000 in student debt through executive action. Lawmakers admitted they lacked the Republican backing needed to pass a bill that would do the same.

Biden has expressed support for canceling up to $ 10,000, but said he does not believe he has the legal authority to unilaterally erase up to $ 50,000 without Congressional action.

“I understand the impact of debt, and it can be debilitating,” Biden said at a town hall event in February. “I am ready to cancel the debt of $ 10,000 but not $ 50 [thousand], because I don’t think I have the power to do it. “

The Ministry of Education note is conducted jointly with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education taking the lead.

More than 40 million Americans are estimated to have student loan debt, and the Federal Reserve estimates that in the third quarter of 2020, Americans owed more than $ 1.7 trillion in student loans. Studies show that students of color are more likely to take on debt and struggle disproportionately to repay it.

Supporters of student debt cancellation argued that the president has the power to cancel student loans Higher Education Act 1965, which first granted the Secretary of Education the power to support student loans. Biden has already wielded that authority, supporters of debt cancellation say, by suspending student loan payments during the coronavirus pandemic.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in February that while his executive review was underway, Biden would be “anxious” to sign a bill passed by Congress that provided for $ 10,000 debt relief.