Biden facing pressure to extend student loan payment pause

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days and weeks before the midterm election, President Joe Biden trumpeted his plan to cancel billions in student loans as he rallied young people to support Democrats.

But now the entire initiative is in jeopardy because of legal challenges that could ensure no one receives a dollar of debt relief. The debacle is swiftly becoming a headache for the administration instead of an example of how the president keeps his promises to voters.

The White House insists it will ultimately prevail even though two federal courts blocked the program from taking effect. However, the setbacks have rattled supporters who fear that more than 40 million Americans who expected relief will instead start getting billed for their student debt in January, when a pandemic-era moratorium on payments is slated to expire.

“You cannot ask people to begin repaying on a debt that shouldn’t exist,” said Melissa Byrne, an advocate for loan cancellation. “We bear no blame in this broken system.”

The impasse has left the White House in a bind over whether to extend the moratorium if the legal battle drags on even though Biden has said the pandemic, the original reason for the pause in payments, “is over.”

The freeze has already cost the federal government more than $100 billion in lost revenue, according to the Government Accountability Office. Critics such as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget are warning Biden that another extension could worsen inflation and raise the risk of economic recession.

Republicans oppose cancellation as an unfair handout of the wealthy, arguing Americans who didn’t go to college will bear the cost as well. Conservatives have orchestrated a barrage of legal attacks against Biden’s plan, saying it overstepped the president’s authority.

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