Biden Planning Student-Loan Announcement Wednesday - WSJ
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 3 years ago • 145 commentsBy: Andrew Restuccia, Gabriel T. Rubin and Tarini Parti (WSJ)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
White House officials are planning for President Biden to make an announcement on Wednesday about his proposal for dealing with student-loan debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
The president and his senior aides have for months been weighing whether to cancel some federal student loan debt. Mr. Biden's top advisers have discussed several proposals, including eliminating $10,000 in federal student-loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, the people said. The president's advisers have also discussed extending a pandemic pause on federal student-loan payments.
The White House has kept the details of the decision closely guarded. Only a small group of Mr. Biden’s top aides have been informed of his plans, some of the people said.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to return to the White House on Wednesday from Delaware, where he is on vacation with his family. The president has said he would announce a decision on student loans by Aug. 31.
The White House declined to comment on the specific timing of the announcement or provide further details. A spokesman reiterated that the president would make his decision before the end of the month.
A move to forgive $10,000 in student debt under certain income thresholds would fall short of progressive Democratic demands for full student-debt cancellation or for canceling $50,000 per borrower, but it could apply to the majority of the 40 million people who hold a total of $1.6 trillion in student-loan debt.
Republicans have opposed broad student-debt forgiveness, saying such a move would be unfair to those who have already paid off their loans or never went to college, and could worsen inflation.
A report released Tuesday from the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that a one-time maximum debt forgiveness of $10,000 per borrower with incomes of less than $125,000 a year would cost around $300 billion.
Last month, more than 100 Democratic senators and House members from across the party’s ideological spectrum asked Mr. Biden to extend the loan-payment pause beyond its Aug. 31 expiration, citing continued economic hardships. Mr. Biden cited similar reasoning for extending the pause previously, most recently in April .
“Resuming student loan payments would force millions of borrowers to choose between paying their federal student loans or putting a roof over their heads, food on the table, or paying for childcare and health care,” the Democratic members wrote.
Republicans have opposed continuing the pause, arguing that it constitutes “de facto loan forgiveness.” Senior House Republicans unveiled a bill this month that would end the pause, as well as overhaul other aspects of the federal student-loan portfolio. The bill isn’t expected to go anywhere while Democrats control Congress and the White House.
The White House has left borrowers, loan servicing contractors and the Education Department itself in limbo as Mr. Biden mulled whether to extend the pause. Last month, the administration told loan servicers to refrain from sending out billing notices or other communications related to restarting payments.
Loan servicers are contracted by the federal government to manage student loan payments. They communicate with borrowers about how much they owe, where and how to send payments, and answer questions borrowers have about repayment programs. Typically, they send out billing notices at least 30 days prior to payments starting up, so that borrowers can plan ahead.
On Monday, a group of loan servicers urged the administration to come to a decision, and said that any move this close to the deadline raised the chances of “incidents of borrower miscommunication,” according to a letter seen by The Wall Street Journal.
“You should be aware that any announcement at this late date, less than ten days before the scheduled resumption of September 1, risks operational disruptions,” wrote Scott Buchanan, the head of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, an industry group.
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"Republicans have opposed continuing the pause, arguing that it constitutes “de facto loan forgiveness.” Senior House Republicans unveiled a bill this month that would end the pause, as well as overhaul other aspects of the federal student-loan portfolio. The bill isn’t expected to go anywhere while Democrats control Congress and the White House."
Obviously this is a political move to make sure those with graduate degrees remember who to vote for. Will it move the needle this November? I doubt it. There is way too much suffering going on.
Donald Trump is absolutely off topic.
Announcement made.
Pelosi once said only congress could do it and yet Biden did it all by himself!
Biden does not care about the Constitution. He like Obama has a phone and a pen and he can do what he wants
And that seems to be where we are. Every democrat president simply gets to do whatever they want. Nobody even challenges it. That's why I say again: the Republic is dead.
What authority does the President have to transfer the debts of citizens to other taxpayers?
I was wondering about that. I'm supposing this is going to be done by executive order?
None.
That's right. He's going to walk out there today an announce he is forgiving all this debt. Should it ever get to the SCOTUS, he will be stopped.
Will it go there?
Who knows. State Legislatures didn't defend their sole right to make election rules in 2020.
Whatever happens, Biden will be able to use it for democrats in the midterms.
He just said "under the power granted by Congress to the Dept of Education"....
I dunno.
LMAO...that's a good one!
He is citing it as an emergency via "the pandemic!"
That's our Susan Rice.
It was one of many things he said that we'll call "disingenuous".
Supposedly, no family in the top 5% will benefit from the plan, but lots of those families (like mine) have kids with loans that the parents pay. In our case, we knew my daughter would get $17,500 of loans forgiven because she's a math teacher in a Title I school, so we had her borrow enough to make sure we got the full forgiveness. So this actually puts about $13k in my pocket. Considering what I pay in taxes every year... not sorry.
He also said he's reducing the deficit by $1.7trillion, almost all of which is simply the expiration of pandemic relief spending....because we're not in a pandemic anymore. If he had just done nothing, it would have been a $2.4 trillion reduction (CBO figures).
Here's a pretty good primer on the claimed legal basis for the EO. To the surprise of no one, it requires a gross misreading of the legislation and can't be supported by an honest reading of the provisions at issue.
Thanks.
I just read this, as well.
You can have student debt even if you have a Pell Grant, two separate issuses.
The $10,000 for individual borrowers would be real and involve 43 Million people.
He is claiming that the pandemic caused a "national emergency" that gave him the right to do this. Let us see if anyone challenges him.
I found this:
"Pell grants themselves don’t generally have to be paid back, but recipients typically take out additional student loans.
“This additional relief for Pell borrowers is also an important piece of racial equity in cancellation,” said Kat Welbeck, Civil Rights Counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center. “Because student debt exacerbates existing inequities, the racial wealth gap means that students of color, especially those that are Black and Latino, are more likely to come from low-wealth households, have student debt, and borrow in higher quantities.”
Biden is attempting to make a significant distinction here. By giving an additional $10k if your family was poor enough that you qualified for a Pell Grant, he's attempting to help accelerate the rise out of generational poverty.
That's admittedly the most utterly optimistic view of things, but that's what all politicians use when they're buying votes.
True - and Biden/crew KNOW the difference but have used the "Pell GRANT" terminology to muddy the story?
I entered law school in 2010 - University of Tulsa, School of Law - and graduated in 2015 with emphasis/specialty in Federal Indian Law.
I paid $36K for tuition/books/supplies/etc and was rewarded with, to me, an excellent educational program with ample opportunity for helping the Native American community with all the trials/tribulations they have to go through/put up with from the Feds/State governmental institutions.
I began repayment of my loans in 2015 - for a total payoff of $36K.
However, I was "forced" to retire due to a massive cardiac arrest which the doc said would be in my future, again, as a result of the stress/travel, so I was only able to "work" for four months before "retiring".
When doing taxes for 2021, I received my 1099 (college interest payments) showing a balance/payoff of $34,600 after having paid over 6 years on the student loan with a Fed interest rate of 6 3/4%. So, in essence, I have paid $28,800 ($400.00/month) on a $36K note and have been given a payoff "date" of May, 2035.
Based on my "fuzzy" math, that kinda adds up to having paid over $90K for a $36K loan.
And, those are just the Fed's figures.
Interestingly, Tulsa has dropped the Federal Indian Law program and increased tuition an average of 5% per year since 2015.
Things that make you wanna say "Hmmmmm".
Nope, my "employer", the Dod, did not assist in the funding for law school - and, for awhile, I was the only Federal Indian Law grad they had (which they so desperately need).
Ah well, eh?
Not sure what they are now but when I got them in the 70’s Pell Grants tended to be small and we’re not intended to cover all tuition or other costs. A small subsidy as it were but every little bit helped.
Trying to put myself back in those times I probably would have applauded what Biden is doing here but I didn’t know what I didn’t know back then. Biden is counting on that with this generation as well.
His problem is the many millions of us that came before and have paid our loans off or never went to college. We far outnumber the folks who will support this.
Perhaps next he will forgive US Federal debt.
finally, a windfall to some of those smart enough not to become republicans...
You mean whites with Graduate degrees...the democrat base.
Forcing poor minorities to subsidize rich whites… the Democratic Party never changes.
Well democrats do tend Toward Being layabout who think everything they want should be provided for them by others. This and your comment just proves it
Yes Republicans are responsible citizens who pay their debts
Evidence the 2020 election and the very loose availability of mail in ballots.
That guy is a national treasure.
Lol ..... a comedian? Guess his MBA didn’t work out .....
You can't turn what is egregiously unfair into something that is compassionate. Not even the old wordsmith could do it.
What you could have done back in 2010 was to tell Obama not to get the US government into the student loan business. That was really incentivized the colleges to raise tuitions. I would have rather seen senile Joe put a cap on how high a tuition can be.
It is more of a windfall for Democrat leeches who are to irresponsible to pay their just debts.
As Charlie Cooke put, a giant middle finger to America.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/joe-biden-illegally-canceling-student-loans-would-be-a-middle-finger-to-america/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=right-rail&utm_content=corner&utm_term=second
He should be impeached for it.
I'm counting the minutes!
The only bad thing about impeaching him is "president" Kamela (Camel Hairless) Harris or possibly "president" Nancy Pelousy
I am not going to hold my breath until after the midterms and we get a reasonable and sane Congress back in control.
It will have to be a double impeachment.
Treason & moral malfeasance.
[deleted]
And for much, much more!
"Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has some advice for the Biden Administration as it weighs whether to cancel student loan debt for millions of people: Beware of offering “unreasonably generous” relief, because it could contribute to inflation."
Reckless spending.
I would support a program that enabled disadvantaged but driven kids the opportunity to get a higher education (or trade) by partial scholarship or reasonable loans. That would be positive for the nation (encouraging and enabling people with the aptitude and desire to get a higher level education and then contribute to the nation). But they need to get the grades to continue the support.
One time debt-forgiveness is a band aid on a healed / partially-healed wound. The money is better spent on making education within reach of the deserving but less financially fortunate.
One time debt forgiveness is an appeal or attempted bribe to a demographic that increasingly disapproves of the Biden administration
Not just me..
Spot on.
Yes and that's one thing wrong with it.
The unfairness is the other part:
Agreed, it is ill-conceived.
Are we not in this situation because the federal government got involved in the first place? Once the federal government started to guarantee student loans, the colleges took it upon themselves to raise tuition and fees must faster than inflation, only because the loans were guaranteed and there was no agency watching the other side to insure that colleges played fair. If this is allowed to happen, what will the downstream effects be for future students trying to go to college? Will colleges continue to raise their tuition and fees at a rate much faster than inflation, and will students take out more and more loans, all in the hope that the federal government will step in again and bail them out?
Can't be said enough.
Nothing good will come from this. It will do nothing to lower inflation and most likely will just increase it. And it incentivizes colleges to increase already out of control costs.
Hopefully the net effect will push more kids to online learning and less to bloated bricks and mortar colleges.
Dismantling the oligopoly colleges currently have .... forcing lower college costs.
Here's a question that you might know the answer to:
What about veterans who joined the military to get their tuition paid for?
Cheats them like many others
Yup! Is thing he is about to do even legal?
Yep, see 6.1.1.
Basically it’s no longer a special benefit for joining the services. And recruitment numbers will continue to drop precipitously.
Our enemies don’t have to do anything if Dems stay in control. All they have to do is wait us out.
I wonder if people like me who either paid their way for college as they went or have already repaid their loans will get reimbursed? My guess is that Biden will just say"SCREW YOU!"
You mean the educational incentive is gone?
The masculinity thing is being destroyed...What's left?
I'm afraid so. Then hell play...
Damn right. I want my money back!!!!!
There is a lot of anger on this. It is extremely unfair and it's really illegal. He really has no right to do this.
About 50% of those who owe on student loans have Graduate Degrees. The rest of us are bailing them out????
And you know what the colleges are going to do, right?
It was a targeted benefit for those chose to serve. It’s still a benefit for them but now shotgun Joe wants it to go to everyone making less than 125k.
So much for that special benefit ....
We are lucky enough to have 0.4% of the population willing to serve. Joe keeps screwing with that.
Oh it's a liberals wet dream. They're back to leeching off the taxpayer getting their "free" shit.
There's a long list of things that the colleges can do: Raise tuition, Decrease class sizes, Decrease the number of degrees they offer programs for,
The democrats and education are a bad mix. This just keeps feeding the monster.
And in the process, they've really abused the president's emergency powers to do just about anything.
And it’s shows as recruitment numbers continue their precipitous decline.
The kid who paid his way through welding school can pay for these freeloaders, too.
If the borrowers are not repaying the loans, was the student loan program worthwhile and properly set up in the first place?
It was 2010 that Obama got the government into the student loan business. Universities began raising tuitions immediately!
Whoever said "Democrats are better than Republicans about debt, deficits, and inflation" should be forced to literally eat their words. Republicans suck at it; but Democrats are in a league of their own- even with a two party system.
Attempting to buy midterm votes at taxpayer expense by executive fiat.
Imagine the screaming by Democrats and leftists if a Republican PoTUS had pulled this stunt.
The funny part is that this openly political stunt may not even have a payoff. The NAACP has already condemned it as not going far enough:
Joe Manchin cannot like this after he went along with the recent boondoggle.
Last but not least, where does Biden get the authority to do it? It's not a national emergency? Why does he get away with it?
Why should they? They were absolutely correct! Democrats are better at those things. Better at raising them. Don't forget how good they are at raising taxes either. The just love to spend and give away other people's money.
"President Biden announced Wednesday that he will cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt for certain borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, while extending the pause on federal student loan payments through the end of the year.
"In keeping with my campaign promise, my Administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle class families breathing room as they prepare to resume federal student loan payments in January 2023," Biden tweeted.
Biden is expected to give remarks on the plan Wednesday afternoon."
"Biden’s illegal move is grotesque classism. In his eyes, those who’ll end up paying are the tradesmen, the riff-raff, the great unwashed, the background noise, the dirty-handed types, whose role is to aid the self-dealing clerisy his party calls its base."
Dumb ass is speaking now
McConnell: Biden student loan forgiveness a "wildly unfair redistribution" of wealth
https:// trib.al/EDLb76D
Joe is telling us a long story of his going to school.....It's endless. A rambling story!
He's definitely juiced up on Prevagen.
What's truly amazing is that when he began, (He's in close contact with COVID positive Jill Biden), he took his mask off and immediately coughed into his hand. Twice. I wonder if he'll seek to shake somebody's hand?
He says that college is just too expensive. He doesn't bother to tell us how it happened....back in 2010
It's like gambling...the 99% fail miserably, but Vic Eldred is living large.
That's all folks!
Well, as Alan Freed used to say when it was time to sign off:
"This isn't good-by, it's only good night."
Daily laugh.. Finally, Harvard Law Students catch a break...
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
· 9h
Good news for thousands of my former students. I’m grateful on their behalf, Mr. President.