“I believe the court’s decision to cancel our student debt relief plan is wrong. This fight is not over,” US President Joe Biden said, vowing to announce additional steps to find other ways to help poor Americans pay for college.
“My administration’s student debt relief plan would be the lifeline needed by tens of millions of hard-working Americans trying to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic. . Nearly 90% of our plan’s benefits would go to borrowers earning less than $75,000 per year and would not be available to those earning more than $125,000 per year. It would change the lives of millions of Americans and their families. And that would be good for economic growth, both short-term and long-term,” Biden said.
The Biden administration’s student debt cancellation plan was an important part of his administration’s economic agenda and campaign pledge, as Biden promised young Americans debt relief as a presidential candidate. presidential.
According to CNN, federal student loan debt per borrower now averages $37,338. Private student loan debt averages $54,921 per borrower.
There are now 45.3 million people in the United States who have student loan debt; 92% of them are on federal loans.
Biden said Friday that “the hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is staggering. They had no problem with the billions in pandemic-related business loans, including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans have been cancelled. But when it came to helping millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.”
Biden noted the progress his administration has made in easing the financial burden on low-income and middle-class Americans.
“While today’s decision is disappointing, we must not lose sight of the progress we have made – historic increases in federal Pell grants; cancellations of loans to teachers, firefighters and other civil servants; and the creation of a new debt repayment plan to ensure that for those who receive a student loan, the monthly payment amount does not exceed 5% of their income.
Some Republican candidates in the 2024 presidential campaign have already backed the Supreme Court’s decision on student loans.
For example, former Trump administration vice president Michael Pence said the White House’s plan to write off the debts of Americans on small salaries was “aid that subsidizes elite education at the expense of hard-working Americans.
“I’m glad the court rejected an attempt by the radical left to use the money of taxpayers who played by the rules and paid off their debts to cancel the debts of bankers and lawyers in New York, San Francisco and Washington. DC,” Pence commented. .
Former US Ambassador to the UN and ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called Biden’s plan to write off student debt a ‘power grab’ and said the Supreme Court had reason to block it. “The president can’t just wave his hand and cancel the student loans he favors without considering everyone who has worked hard to pay off debt or made other career choices.”
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