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Democrats, unions and consumer groups have called on the Trump administration in recent weeks to further expand all of these benefits for borrowers amid a worsening pandemic and as negotiations over increased aid against coronaviruses have stalled. But the Education Department and the White House were unsure whether they would give another reprieve to student loan borrowers in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
POLITICO reported earlier this week that the department had ordered federal student loan managers to suspend billing of borrowers in an early sign that the government was not going to start collecting payments on January 1.
Even as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took executive action to expand the benefits, she said it should be up to Congress, not the executive, to make policy decisions about federal student loans .
“The coronavirus pandemic has presented challenges for many students and borrowers, and this temporary pause in payments will help those who have been affected,” DeVos said in a statement. “Overtime also allows Congress to do its job and determine what action it considers necessary and appropriate. Congress, not the executive branch, is responsible for student loan policy. “
Biden has not committed to any specific executive action on student loans, but it is generally expected to continue in some form or another the same freeze on monthly payments and interest that the Trump administration now has. twice extended by executive action.
Congress has debated for months whether to extend student loan relief further, but Democrats and Republicans disagree on how and whether to do it.
The coronavirus relief bill, passed by House Democrats in May, would freeze student loan payments until September 30 next year and keep the interest rate at 0% for the same. period or even longer, unless the unemployment rate improves.
A $ 908 billion bipartisan proposal that a group of centrist senators unveiled this week called for around $ 4 billion to continue some form of student loan relief, potentially until March of next year, although details have not been worked out. But Republicans in the Senate were colder about the idea.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest coronavirus relief plan does not include an extension of student loan benefits.
Biden also faces pressure from Progressive Democrats to go further and use executive action to write off hundreds of billions of dollars in outstanding student loans altogether.
The Senses. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) And Chuck Schumer published an op-ed on Friday urging Biden again to write off large swathes of student loan debt, which they said would boost the economy and close the gap of racial wealth in the United States.
Biden on the election campaign endorsed the idea to write off $ 10,000 in debt per borrower as a pandemic relief measure. But he did not commit to doing so through executive action instead of asking Congress to clarify the legislation to that end.
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