Biden offers alternative student debt relief plan that would remove immediate threat of default
President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan to provide student loan relief for millions of borrowers while blaming Republican 맥스카지노hypocrisy맥스카지노 for triggering the day's Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original plan.
Biden said payment requirements for student loans would resume in coming weeks, but that he would work under the authority of the Higher Education Act to begin a new program designed to ease borrowers맥스카지노 threat of default if they fall behind over the next year.
Hours after the Supreme Court ruling, Biden commented from the White House, trying to stay on the political offensive even as the ruling undermined a key promise to young voters who will be vital to his 2024 reelection campaign.
Biden delivered most of his remarks in a measured tone but then raised his voice at the end when a reporter asked if he had given borrowers false hope.
맥스카지노I didn맥스카지노t give any false hope,맥스카지노 he said heatedly. 맥스카지노The Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given.맥스카지노
Ticking off what he said were billions of dollars in benefits to the well-to-do under the Trump administration, he said, 맥스카지노These Republican officials just couldn맥스카지노t bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans.맥스카지노
맥스카지노The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning," he said.
Top administration officials said they had met for weeks to discuss how to handle the Supreme Court's expected reversal of Biden's original plan.
Electoral consequences aside, progressive Democrats in Congress and activists clamored for the White House to offer a swift and substantial response to the court's decision. Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said the responsibility falls 맥스카지노squarely맥스카지노 on Biden맥스카지노s shoulders.
맥스카지노The president possesses the power, and must summon the will, to secure the essential relief that families across the nation desperately need,맥스카지노 Abrams said in a statement.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of her party's leading voices on the left, said, 맥스카지노The president has more tools to cancel student debt 맥스카지노 and he must use them."
The GOP has long argued that repaying the student loans is a fairness issue, and they celebrated the ruling. Betsy DeVos, who served as secretary of education under President Donald Trump, called Biden's original plan 맥스카지노deeply unfair to the majority of Americans who don맥스카지노t have student loans.맥스카지노
Republicans now seeking their party's 2024 presidential nomination lined up to applaud the ruling, with former Vice President Mike Pence saying he was 맥스카지노pleased that the court struck down the radical left맥스카지노s effort to use the money of taxpayers who played by the rules and repaid their debts in order to cancel the debt of bankers and lawyers in New York, San Francisco, and Washington.맥스카지노
Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Supreme Court was 맥스카지노right to throw out Joe Biden's power grab.맥스카지노
Trying to place the onus for ending the plan on the GOP could allow Biden맥스카지노s reelection campaign to keep the issue of student loans as one of strength in the short term. But that may ultimately offer little solace to 43 million Americans who will now could have to start again repaying their student loans.
맥스카지노We do not want to go into excruciating debt for our entire lives to enhance our education,맥스카지노 Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led organization that promotes the power of young Americans, said in a statement.
Video below: Biden on student loan forgiveness plan being stuck down by SCOTUS
The White House맥스카지노s efforts to block payments were an attempt to keep a Biden 2020 campaign promise to wipe out student loan debt that was especially popular with young voters and progressives. Both will be vital to Biden in next year맥스카지노s presidential race 맥스카지노 but may be less energized about supporting him after the high court맥스카지노s decision.
Wisdom Cole, the national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, said Black Americans helped put Biden in the White House, so there맥스카지노s an obligation for him to 맥스카지노finish the job맥스카지노 with his pledges to provide relief for borrowers around the country. He suggested a lack of action could see Biden face a backlash next year with key demographics 맥스카지노 specifically young voters and Black voters.
맥스카지노It맥스카지노s going to have a huge impact on the next election. This was a key point. This was a key policy priority,맥스카지노 Cole said, adding, 맥스카지노If we don맥스카지노t do this, we continue the cycle of seeing our elected leaders make promises and not follow through.맥스카지노
A May poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 43% of U.S. adults approve of how Biden sought to handle student debt, similar to his approval rating overall of 40% in the same poll.
The poll suggested that Biden gets credit for his handling of the issue among young adults in particular. Fifty-three percent of adults under age 30 said they approved of Biden맥스카지노s handling of student debt, compared with only 36% who approved of his job performance overall.
The high court맥스카지노s decision comes as loan payments 맥스카지노 which have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago 맥스카지노 were already set to resume in the fall.
Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University, said it would be essentially impossible to provide immediate debt relief before payments start again.
맥스카지노That맥스카지노s why we call it administrative law rather than fiat,맥스카지노 Shugerman said, noting that the rulemaking process requires 맥스카지노crossing t맥스카지노s and dotting i맥스카지노s and giving real reasons for policies.맥스카지노
The situation has some political overlap with a COVID pandemic-era ban on nationwide evictions, which expired in 2021 with the Biden administration opposing the move but arguing that its hands were tied because the Supreme Court refused to extend it 맥스카지노 despite the protests of progressive Democrats and housing activists. But the impact of the student loan program could be far wider.
Friday's decision wasn맥스카지노t unexpected given the court맥스카지노s reactions when it heard arguments in the case in February. Since then, the White House has faced pressure from activists and progressive Democrats to formulate a backup plan that would provide relief to borrowers 맥스카지노 but spent months publicly refusing to publicly discuss a Plan B.
___
Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Collin Binkley contributed to this report.