Biden Says 22 Million Americans Have Applied for Student Loan Debt Relief

According to President Biden, 22 million Americans have applied for federal student loan relief since the program was opened this week.

Less than three weeks before the elections, Mr. Biden tried to draw distinctions between himself and the Republicans.

Republican members of Congress and Republican governors are doing everything they can to deny this relief to their own people.

The debt relief plan was put on hold by the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit because of the legal dispute.

For people earning less than $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per household, the plan wipes out $10,000 in debt. Tens of millions of people would no longer have student loan debt. Applications will be accepted until the end of the year.

In less than a week, 22 million people have given information to be considered for this life-changing relief.

The president compared the student debt relief plan to the tax cuts that the Republicans passed last year. Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, were some of his most vocal critics.

Mr. Cruz referred to a hypothetical recipient of student debt relief as a slacker barista who spent seven years in college studying useless

They don't know who they are. Mr. Biden was cheered by the crowd.

The program will cost $379 billion over the course of three decades, according to the Education Department.

The cost was affordable according to Mr. Biden. The federal budget deficit fell from a year ago due to waning emergency spending.

Millions of borrowers made submissions as the new portal went live as the Biden administration began accepting applications for debt relief. Before the appeals court stayed the decision, the Education Department said it wouldn't cancel any loans until Sunday.

A 2003 federal law allows the education secretary to modify financial assistance programs for students when there is a war or a national emergency. According to the Biden administration, there is an emergency due to the Pandemic.

Legal experts weren't sure if those trying to stop the program would have the right to file a lawsuit.

The judge appointed by Bush dismissed the lawsuit. The states didn't show that they were hurt by the debt forgiveness. The Court of Appeals granted a stay on Friday.

Justice Amy ConeyBarrett rejected a challenge to the policy that had been brought by a taxpayers' association.

There are more legal challenges on the way. Before the program's opponents found a judge who would freeze it, the Biden administration was racing to make sure that the program was up and running.

The Department of Education said in September that some Federal Family Education Loans could not be consolidated into direct federal loans, which are eligible for forgiveness. Hundreds of thousands of borrowers who thought they were eligible for student loan forgiveness would not be able to do so.