Supporters of U.S. President Joe Biden's s plans for student debt relief march near the White House after a U.S. Supreme Court decision blocking the president's plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt, in Washington, U.S. June 30, 2023.
The issue remains high on the agenda of younger voters, many of whom have concerns about Biden's foreign policy on the war in Gaza and fault him for not achieving greater debt forgiveness. Republicans have called Biden's student loan forgiveness approach an overreach of his authority and an unfair benefit to college-educated borrowers while other borrowers received no such relief.
If the latest plans are finalized following a public comment period, they would take effect as early as this fall, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in a call detailing the plans. Combined with the administration's previous actions, they would benefit more than 30 million Americans, Jean-Pierre added.
To date, the administration has said it has approved $146 billion in student debt relief for 4 million Americans. Biden has vowed to continue pushing student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible following the Supreme Court's decision blocking his earlier plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, and administration officials said they studied the