“I am considering dealing with some debt reduction. I do not consider reducing the debt by $ 50,000, “Biden told the White House after revealing new funding for Ukraine. “But I am in the process of carefully considering whether there will be or not – there will be additional debt forgiveness and I will have an answer to that in the next few weeks.”
Biden is under pressure to keep his campaign promise to tackle student loan debt. He signaled lawmakers at a White House meeting this week that he would take steps to address the issue. After taking office, Biden took several steps to provide student loan relief. He has repeatedly extended a pause to pay off federal student loans, an action that was originally issued during the Trump administration to help borrowers struggling economically because of the pandemic. The White House recently announced that the break would be extended until August 31.
During a meeting with members of the Spanish-speaking group in Congress on Monday, Biden appeared “positive” on the idea of forgiving at least $ 10,000 in debt to Americans on student loans, but did not make a firm commitment on the issue, according to California Democrat Nanet Baragan. .
Baragan told CNN on Tuesday that Biden and Democrats had discussed the scope of such a plan – including whether it would involve public and private institutions – but that the White House had made no commitment or set a time frame for such a move. Her comments on the discussion came after reports that Biden had made it clear during the meeting that he would take action on the issue through the executive branch. But the announcement that Biden had handed over a decision to the CHC meeting, Baragan said, “was news to me.” Some key Democrat lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have called for Biden to cancel a total of up to $ 50,000 in student loan debt.
The White House has long said the president will support congressional action to eliminate $ 10,000 in debt forgiveness for student loans to borrowers, but Biden has not indicated whether he will use executive powers to provide immediate mass debt relief. . But it is unlikely that Congress, where Democrats have a small lead, will have the vote to pass a law that will abolish debt altogether.
Biden on Thursday highlighted the steps he has already taken that have eased public sector workers’ debts.
“The first thing we did was to reform a system that was in place that didn’t work for anyone, that allowed people to write off debt if they were engaged in public service,” he said.
CNN’s Megan Vazquez and Manu Raju contributed to this report.
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