President Joe Biden asked the Education Department to prepare a memo on his legal ability to cancel student debt.

On November 1, Insider received redacted documents from the Debt Collective that showed the memo had existed since April 5, 2021.

The student-loan-payment pause and the creation of the memo have caused borrowers and lawmakers to want answers.

The extension of the student loan moratorium is welcome, but I still believe that we owe it to 43 million Americans with student loan debt to fully cancel it.

Biden's intentions for handling the student-debt crisis seemed clear when he was on the campaign trail. He promised to approve $10,000 in student-loan forgiveness for each federal borrower and said it would be a top priority for him in reform of long-broken loan-forgiveness programs.

While he has taken steps on the latter, the former remains unfulfilled, and borrowers and lawmakers are growing frustrated as Biden stalls on a promise many voters are relying on.

The president was given a two-week deadline to deliver the memo by the Democrats. In January, she joined 84 of her colleagues in pushing for the release of the memo and an extension of the pause on student-loan payments, which Biden ended up implementing last week through August 31.

It was long past time for Biden to be transparent with his voters, according to Insider.

When leaders of the Progressive Caucus and I met with the President earlier this month, we stressed the importance of not just suspending, but cancelling student debt.

She said that the President has the authority to cancel the debt.

The Department of Education continues to assess its options for implementing broad debt cancellation by executive action.

The White House has 'chosen to sit on their hands while families suffer financially'

The majority of the student-debt memo was blacked out before Insider received it, but the documents did reveal some information about the communication process within the administration.

An Education Department official wrote that based on internal emails in April 2021, the department would likely be preparing an updated version of the memo prepared in February.

Student debt cancellation memo
A redacted memo on student-debt cancellation from the Education Department on April 5, 2021.
The Debt Collective

The press secretary for the Debt Collective said in a statement this month that the decision not to release the memo was a political one.

A year has passed since the White House was informed of their authority to widely cancel student debt and yet they have chosen to sit on their hands. It is time for Biden to take action.

Insider reported that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were satisfied with the relief.

Democrats wanted even more relief, saying that if Biden could keep extending the pause, he could make permanent reforms to the student-loan industry.

It is not clear whether more relief will come for student-loan borrowers in September.

The President should extend the moratorium on student loans again once it expires. And then after that again. You know what, why don&t we just cancel it?