The Biden administration is taking steps to act on a campaign promise to cancel massive student loan debt according to sources at The Hill. The administration is looking to take executive action to forgive $10,000 per borrower with sources claiming even bigger options are on the table.
President Joe Biden’s move to forgive $10,000 per borrower would clear loans for 15 million of 46 million borrowers, Bloomberg reported. Such action would clear $321 billion of federal student loans and would completely wipe out student debt for almost 12 million people, CNBC noted.
The White House has not set an official timeline on the executive action, but some legislators reportedly worry the move could worsen already heightened inflation ahead of the November midterms. (RELATED: Biden Admin Announces Massive Expansion Of Student Loan Forgiveness)
“I would see that as a good first step. Whatever he [Biden] feels comfortable doing, fine. And I’m going to do whatever I feel comfortable doing,” Majority Whip James Clyburn told The Hill. Clyburn has allied with the Biden Administration though he admits $10,000 is not enough, according to The Hill’s report. He continues to work with Senator Elizabeth Warren and others to forgive upwards of $50,000 of student debt per borrower.
Biden stated Thursday that he is not considering $50,000 in forgiveness per borrower, but he did recently issue another extension of the pandemic pause on federal student loan payments. The White House said if Congress passed a bill canceling student debt the president would sign it into law.
This week, Senate Minority Whip John Thune introduced a bill to stop the Biden administration from canceling debt. “After a huge increase in our national debt thanks to the pandemic and reckless Democrat spending, the government does not need to be forgoing billions of dollars by providing student loan relief to Americans with some of the highest earning potential,” Thune wrote in a statement.