President Joe Biden will travel to Wisconsin to announce details of a new plan to relieve student loan debt for millions of people, a trip that comes one week after the Midwest battleground primary elections highlighted weaknesses for the Democratic president and Donald Trump, his Republican rival.
The new federal rule paving the way for student debt relief is not expected to be issued when the president speaks, but Biden will highlight a plan on which the Department of Education began working after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his first attempt last year to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.
Immediately after the court ruled that Biden needed Congress to approve his original plan, the president said the decision was a “mistake” and “wrong” and announced that Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, would undertake a new process using his authority under the Higher Education Act to waive or compromise student loan debt in specific cases.
A new announcement on student loan relief, a key issue for younger voters, could help energize parts of Biden’s political coalition that have become disillusioned with his job performance. These are people whose support the president will need to defeat Trump in November.
In Wisconsin’s April 2 primary elections, nearly 119,000 Republicans voted for a Republican candidate other than Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee. And more than 48,000 Democratic voters chose “uninstructed” instead of Biden, more than double Biden’s narrow victory margin in Wisconsin in 2020.
Nearly 15% of Democrats in Dane County, home to the University of Wisconsin and Madison, voted “uninstructed.” That’s nearly double the statewide total of 8%.
Democratic U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, who represents Madison in Congress, said he was surprised that concerns about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza were the top issue among voters at five town halls over the past two weeks in more rural parts of his district.
“I was surprised to see that the intensity on the issue of Gaza didn’t come from a student voice in Madison, but from older voters in more rural parts of the district,” Pocan said.
Pocan said the number of “uninstructed” votes shows concern in Wisconsin and that Biden must address it. He said he planned to speak directly with Biden about it on Monday.
“I just want to make sure he knows that if we’re going to have a problem, that could be the problem in Wisconsin,” Pocan said.
Biden’s new plan would expand federal student loan relief to new, still-specific categories of borrowers through the Higher Education Act, which administration officials believe puts it on firmer legal ground than the broad proposal rejected by a 6-3 judicial majority last year.
The plan is expected to be smaller and more targeted than his original plan, which would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for more than 40 million borrowers.
The proposal is expected to cancel some or all federal student loans for more than 30 million Americans, the White House said. The Department of Education plans to issue a formal proposal in the coming months, with plans to begin implementing parts of the plan starting this fall.
“President Biden will use every tool available to cancel student loan debt for as many borrowers as possible, no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stand in his way,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a call with reporters.
Details released by the White House on Monday largely reflect a plan drafted by the Department of Education over the past few months through a federal rulemaking process. It establishes five categories of borrowers who would be eligible for at least some of their federal student loans to be canceled if the rule is approved.
The plan’s broadest benefit would cancel up to $20,000 in interest for borrowers whose balance has grown beyond their original amount due to unpaid interest. Borrowers could have all of their interest erased, with no cap, if they are enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan and have annual incomes of less than $120,000 or couples earning less than $240,000.
That part of the plan would forgive at least some unpaid interest for about 25 million borrowers, and 23 million would have all of their interest erased, according to the White House.
Another 2 million borrowers would have their loans canceled because they are eligible for other forgiveness programs but have not applied. The Department of Education would identify borrowers who are eligible but have not applied for programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Borrowers who have been repaying their undergraduate student loans for 20 years or more would be eligible to have any remaining debt canceled, along with those who have been repaying their graduate school loans for 25 years or more.
The plan would forgive debt for those who were in college programs deemed to be of “low financial value.” It aims to help those in programs that ultimately lost eligibility for federal student aid or programs that had misled students.
A final category would cancel debt for borrowers facing hardships that prevent them from repaying their student loans.
The White House says millions of borrowers could receive forgiveness if they are at high risk of defaulting on their student loans or are burdened by medical or childcare debt, among other criteria.
“This administration will begin canceling up to $20,000 in interest for millions of borrowers, and will fully forgive loans for millions more this fall,” Cardona said in a call with reporters. “That’s on top of the $146 billion in student loan debt relief for 4 million Americans we’ve already approved, more than any other administration in our country’s history.”
A series of hearings to draft the rule concluded in February, and the draft is now under review.
Before it can be finalized, the Department of Education will need to issue a formal proposal and open it to a public comment period.
The latest cancellation effort adds to other targeted initiatives, including those aimed at public service workers and low-income borrowers. Thanks to those efforts, the Biden administration says it has canceled $144 billion in student loans for nearly 4 million Americans.
Biden stopped in Chicago for a campaign event before returning to the White House Monday night.
Image: Wfla
