Federal student loans payments are set to resume on January 31 2022 and some Americans, and their representatives, are vocally criticizing President Joe Biden for not following through on his campaign promises of student loan debt relief.
One of Biden's top campaign promises was $10,000 in student debt cancellation per borrower. Now 11 months in, no progress has been made on that front. In a speech last month Biden said forgiving $10,000 "should be done immediately.".
Additionally, we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn't happen again.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 22, 2020
The announcement that the moratorium wouldn't be extended past January 31 was earlier this year but re-emerged this week when White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the subject.
STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS: Jen Psaki was asked if President Biden will extend the student loan payment pause. pic.twitter.com/F86ZSGtjiK
— Forbes (@Forbes) December 11, 2021
The topic quickly began trending across social media and prompted some powerful Democrats to come out against the White House's move to restart payments without forgiveness.
Millions of young people will soon have to begin making student loan payments again.
Payments they cannot afford.
We need to continue the freeze on repayments until the pandemic is over.
Better yet, we should cancel $50,000 in debt for every student.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) December 15, 2021
A recent post discussing not paying back the loans starting February 1 on Reddit received nearly 10,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours.
At issue between the White House, Congress, and progressives is can the president issue an executive order for loan forgiveness. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren have both said the president has the authority, but Biden's team has so far not made a public comment or any moves since taking office.
The White House said Tuesday that Congress needs to help with the president's promise to cancel student loans and that the president would be happy to sign that bill.
As of November 5, the Federal Reserve said Americans owe $1.75 trillion in student debt. The amount owed has grown from around $480 billion in the first quarter of 2006 to the current total, an increase of about 3,500%.
Student loan content and resources:
Millions of Americans defaulting on student loans
Forgiving $10K in student loan debt would erase all student debt for 34% of borrowers, group says
