On Monday, Senate Democrats urged President Joe Biden to use his executive powers to cancel up to $ 50,000 in student debt after the approval of the $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, which included a clause to make student loan forgiveness tax free until 2025.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., joined the Democrats Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Menendez of New Jersey to highlight the provision of the relief bill and said it paves the way for the Biden government to use existing executive powers to cancel student debts of millions of borrowers.
His collective appeals underscore that Democrats are unlikely to have votes to erase student debt by passing legislation that would require at least 10 Republicans in the Senate.
Schumer said that some opponents of student debt cancellation tried to argue that forgiving the tax loan would make the relief debatable.
“Even some in the Biden government are making this argument, but now that argument is gone,” said Schumer.
The provision of tax rates will affect 100,000 students in repayment programs that offer forgiveness and apply to future efforts to forgive student loans, said Schumer. The cancellation, he said, would offer relief to millions of borrowers.
Democrats in both chambers of Congress have been renewing calls for Biden to make student loan debt forgiveness a top priority, arguing that it would help to narrow the racial wealth gap and boost the economy.
The Biden government has been hesitant to use executive action on the matter. White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently signaled that the government would like to see a bill introduced in Congress on the subject.
Psaki told reporters last month that while “the president has supported and continues to support the cancellation of $ 10,000 of federal student loan debt per person in response to the Covid crisis,” any further action would need to come from Congress.
Later she tweeted that the White House would also be “looking into whether there is any action it can take through executive action”.
On his first day in office, Biden also signed an executive order extending the pause in paying federal loans to students owed to Covid-19 until October. He then asked Congress in February to cancel $ 10,000 of the federal student loan debt per person as an additional coronavirus relief measure.
Now that the American Rescue Plan has canceled the tax on student loan forgiveness, Schumer said it paves the way for Biden to issue an executive order on the loan cancellation. He said that going through Congress would be a lengthy process.
“But if he doesn’t, we will look for other options,” said Schumer.
