A petition calling for student loans to be canceled has gathered more than 800,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.
President Biden has asked the Department of Education to consider the possibility of forgiving Americans who collectively hold $1.7 trillion in student loans, raising concerns about the roughly 45 million Americans who collectively owe $2.1 trillion. Democratic lawmakers are calling on Biden to issue a major executive order before taking office to ease the financial burden on those who struggled financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Student Loans for Justice, a grassroots organization, launched a petition on Change.org on Tuesday calling on President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to write off student loan debt by decree.
The Trump administration and Congress have halted the collection of certain student loan debt, prompting renewed calls for the federal government to forgive student loan debt by the Department of Education and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
During his presidential campaign, Biden called on Congress and the president to forgive all borrowers, up to $50,000 in student loans. To bolster his call for student loan relief, former Vice President Joe Biden wants to be personally forgiven and has put in place an additional plan for students.
Shortly after taking office, Biden signed an executive order that provides for a time-out on student loan and interest payments until the end of September.
Former President Donald Trump initially suspended payments at the start of the pandemic, and student loan borrowers did not have to make payments until March. After the suspension of the loans was extended twice, this piece of federal “pandemic aid” was due to expire on December 31 unless President Trump and Congress act to extend it.
Even if that deadline is postponed, millions of student loans will still be due before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. If President Biden signs an executive order extending the payout of federal student loans at zero percent interest, there is a chance Biden will forgive the loans entirely. Even if Biden reinstalls the pause retroactively, it will create a “slowdown” for student loan processors, which could put pressure on them to suddenly halt or begin payments while Covid’s 19 cases swell.
Currently, 43 million people are burdened with federal student loans, according to the Federal Student Aid Program. In a year marked by record numbers – which soared the federal debt burden on student loans – they soared from about $516 billion to more than $1.5 trillion in 2012, rising from $4.1 trillion to $2.4 trillion.
Joe Biden is campaigning on student debt relief, and his administration must do everything in its power to keep that promise, but congressional gridlock will make it difficult. Letters to Biden’s campaign website launched by former U.S. Senator Joe Biden D – N.Y. Nowhere on the website does Biden promise to cancel or forgive federal student loan debt, and he is not campaigning to delete it.
But as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House, calls for student loan debt relief are growing louder. In a recent resolution, Senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren made clear that the president has the power to order the secretary of education to “cancel student debt based on the powers set forth in the Higher Education Act. Since presidents have the power to cancel debt, we urge Joe Pence and his administration to take executive action to cancel student debt.
Democratic leaders in Congress have pressed Biden to take executive action to cut more debt. Biden has publicly backed away from his pledge to eliminate $10,000 in federal student debt, but student loan borrowers can still make payments on the terms of their loans.
A petition calling for all student loan debt to be cancelled has gathered more than 800,000 signatures. Democratic Senators Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Republican Elijah Cummings of Maryland have proposed a step further.
In an effort to ease the burden on those who are in financial difficulty because of the coronavirus pandemic, they are calling on Biden to enact significant student loan relief when he takes office. Student Loans for Justice, a grassroots organization, launched a petition on Change.org last week calling for all student loans to be canceled by executive order. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who has called for the federal government’s $1.2 trillion student debt to be eliminated, also called for student loan relief in a recent tweet. Americans hold a total of $2.5 trillion in debt – $3.7 trillion, according to a report from the Center for Responsive Politics.
In this unprecedented crisis, we should not have to choose between paying our student loans and providing food to keep our children safe and healthy, “Pressley said in a statement. He said he would provide much-needed debt relief to the 45 million people he believes have been crushed by student debt as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. Biden has not committed to canceling all outstanding student loan debt, and has yet to elaborate on whether or not he would support eliminating the debt through executive action.
