BIDEN TO ANNOUNCE STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS UP TO $10K, PAYMENT PAUSE EXTENSION
President Biden is set to announce today (August 24th) forgiveness of up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for many borrowers, and extend the moratorium on loan payments that began in March 2020 due to the pandemic and has been extended six times already to January, according to media reports yesterday.
The loan forgiveness will be limited to those earning less than $125,000 a year. Some progressives and activists had wanted student loan debt cancellation of up to $50,000, but Biden opposed that much and proposed cancellation of up to $10,000 during his presidential campaign. Almost one-third of the more than 43 million Americans who have federal student debt owe less than $10,000 and more than half owe less than $20,000.
The Republican National Committee blasted Biden's expected announcement yesterday, charging it would would unfairly burden lower-income taxpayers and those who have already paid off their student loans with paying college costs for the wealthy.