Biden ‘forgives’ another $6B in student debt for public service workers

President Joe Biden is forgiving nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for almost 78,000 Americans working in public service, the latest effort to deliver on one of his signature initiatives ahead of November’s general election.

“These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law,” Biden said in a statement Thursday. He said those helped by the latest debt relief included teachers, nurses and firefighters.

The public servants — who have been paying their loans for at least a decade — will have the remainder of their federal student-debt balances canceled, according to senior administration officials who detailed the plans on condition of anonymity.

The relief is possible through regulatory changes at the Education Department that make it easier for borrowers to qualify for forgiveness. The department has aggressively pursued student-loan cancellations for borrowers who have fallen victim to mismanaged federal programs, leading them to wait for promised relief sometimes after more than 25 years of payments.

An estimated 900,000 people in the public-service loan forgiveness program and in the income-driven repayment plans, respectively, have seen relief, the officials said.

The moves come as Biden faces pressure from progressives and civil rights groups to deliver broader debt relief after his initial plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for an estimated 40 million people was struck down by the Supreme Court. 

That ruling led to disappointment among key parts of his electoral coalition, in particular Black voters and young people, with whom the issue of debt relief resonates. Biden campaigned in 2020 on offering loan forgiveness and will need to draw those groups to the polls in his rematch with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Related: ‘Congratulations!’ Biden emails 153K student loan borrowers, forgiving $1.2B in debt

After the high court ruling, Biden has taken a piecemeal approach, with the Education Department enacting administrative changes and tweaking existing programs to provide relief to different groups. In total, the White House has forgiven $144 billion for almost 4 million people. The agency counts forgiveness for students who attended predatory institutions or whose schools shut down abruptly in its tally, as well as those covered by legal settlements.

The White House has been doing more to make sure Biden gets credit for the relief steps he’s implemented, with emails notifying Americans of canceled loans bearing his signature. The nearly 78,000 public servants receiving relief in the latest round are expected to receive such emails on Thursday.

The administration will also send emails to 380,000 public servants on track to have their federal loans forgiven within one or two years.

“I won’t back down from using every tool at my disposal to deliver student debt relief to more Americans,” Biden said Thursday.

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