Biden Announces Cancellation Of Another $4 Billion In Student Loans

The Biden administration said Friday that it would cancel another $4.28 billion in student loan debt for nearly 55,000 people, bringing the total amount of student debt forgiven by the administration to around $180 billion. 

The Department of Education announced that it was canceling the debt of 54,900 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Although the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s broad student loan cancellation program last year, Biden has continued to cancel chunks of student loan debt through other programs. 

“Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. 

The PSLF Program allows borrowers working in education, public health, law enforcement, and emergency response to have their debt canceled after making 120 monthly payments. 

“The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people,” Cardona added.

Republicans have challenged Biden’s student loan cancellation initiatives, saying they are an unconstitutional redistribution of wealth and a burden on the American taxpayer. 

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Earlier this month, 23 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Cardona warning the administration about another proposed rule that would expand the Secretary of Education’s authority to “waive” debts to the department. 

“Everyone from the Supreme Court, to President Joe Biden, to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has publicly acknowledged that you do not have the authority to forgive debt except in the limited ways Congress clearly outlined. You must adhere to these warnings and follow the law,” the attorney generals wrote on December 3. 

In June 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s attempt to use the COVID-era HEROES Act to unilaterally forgive federally subsidized loans. 

“The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not,” the court majority wrote in a 6-3 opinion. “We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.”