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Biden Suggests Openness to Using Executive Action on Some Student Loan Debt.

ajszenk

ajszenk

Member
Dec 6, 2017
1,213
President-Elect Biden had a conversation with journalists from various media outlets about COVID, Student loans, and other topics.

Speaking candidly to The Washington Post and others in the media about the challenges he will face in January and the limitations of his executive power, Biden said, "I'm going to get in trouble for saying this . . . it's arguable that the president may have the executive power to forgive up to $50,000 in student debt... Well, I think that's pretty questionable. I'm unsure of that. I'd be unlikely to do that."

Earlier in the day, Biden had reaffirmed his general support for broad student loan forgiveness, but suggested that he would support a smaller amount of $10,000.
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While not the homerun many were hoping for, it is something can help many borrowers find some economic relief.

Full story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammi...loan-debt-by-executive-order/?sh=384501df15b6

Edit: Additional Context on what $10,000 in forgiveness would mean.

Forgiving $10,000 in student loans would eliminate all outstanding student loans for over 16 million people, or a third of all current student loan borrowers. That level of student loan forgiveness would also reduce the balances of another 9.3 million people by half. Ultimately, over 50% of outstanding student loan borrowers could see significant relief with just $10,000 in student debt cancellation.
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Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
$10k would wipe out more than half the amount I still owe, I'd be alright with that.
 
Rirse

Rirse

Member
Jun 29, 2019
2,016
I wonder if it would work on both my student loans. One of them is currently waived for the year after the virus outbreak happened, but the other one is greedy and I still have to pay 60 a month to them.
 
kirby_fox

kirby_fox

Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,733
Midwest USA
16 million is a big number to get loans erased.

Let's hope the more liberal people who want this talk to Biden and have him come up even more. They come down to 40, he goes up to 20 and they agree on 30k.
 
Weltall Zero

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
I have no clue about US politics or economics so forgive if this is a dumb question, but would it be possible / more feasible to do this in waves? E.g. 10k this year, 10k a year or two from now, etc.?
 
GK86

GK86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,832
$10K would help a ton of people, but I hope he does $50K. That would be a life changer for most people.
 
BFIB

BFIB

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,711
It'd wipe out my federal, still would owe on private, but it would be a huge help.
 
Surakian

Surakian

Shinra Employee
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
10,919
$10k is still a third of my existing debt but that's fine. I'm a civil servant so I am going to try my hand at the forgiveness program in 8 years.

Would prefer if he did $20k at the very least.

(In reality all of it would be best but we know he isn't going to do that)
 
strikeselect

strikeselect

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,131
"I'm unsure of that. I'd be unlikely to do that."

uhh.. that doesn't seem to signal openness at all. Sounds like he's going to play centrist on this and leave it up to congress.
 
hom3land

hom3land

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,616
10k would be amazing for me. Im holding out on making payments to see what happens in January. If 10k gets wiped out I'd be able to pay off the rest on my own.
 
captmcblack

captmcblack

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,080
I'll support any available action that waives any amount of student loan debt for people. If it's 10k, if it's 100k, if it's 5k, whatever. Time to get young people free to make whatever way they can in this world.
 
Violence Jack

Violence Jack

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,977
Better than nothing. That would still leave me with like $35k to pay off. It wasn't until now where I could get it under $50k with no interest, and I've been paying on mine since 2012.
 
LegendofJoe

LegendofJoe

Member
Oct 28, 2017
12,099
Arkansas, USA
Navient is in Delaware, predatory financial servicing is one of the states top industries. Biden isn't going to wipe them out. $10k is honesty a lot more than I was expecting (which was nothing).
 

Nerokis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,571
kirby_fox said:
16 million is a big number to get loans erased.

Let's hope the more liberal people who want this talk to Biden and have him come up even more. They come down to 40, he goes up to 20 and they agree on 30k.
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Well, forget the left. Even when Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer of all people are the ones asking for more, Biden keeps defaulting to the half-ass option.

This is one example: Schumer asks for $50,000 of student loan forgiveness, and somehow the dude is hesitant to even throw out $10,000.

Another example came up during the stimulus negotiations:

Mr. Biden on Sunday applauded the willingness of lawmakers to "reach across the aisle" and called the effort a "model for the challenging work ahead for our nation." He was also not an idle bystander in the negotiations.
With Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate far apart on how much they were willing to accept in new pandemic spending, Mr. Biden on Dec. 2 threw his support behind the $900 billion plan being pushed by the centrist group. The total was less than half of the $2 trillion that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, had been insisting on.

This is annoying as fuck, to be honest. Yeah, sure, it all makes a difference, but the unwillingness to fight for more is deflating.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,293
I need the 50k to untether myself from public service. Hope he at least extends the zero payments for another year.
 
Dartastic

Dartastic

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,779
He's so, so out of touch. God. We really need increased civic engagement across the board, because fuck man.
 
Noctilum

Noctilum

Member
Nov 28, 2017
369
My wife owes $12k. Hopefully he extends forbearance until he decides to wipe out the $10k so I am not throwing money at something that may get wiped out.
 
moblin

moblin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,107
Москва
Article pretty clearly specifies that he's open to some degree of debt cancellation, not that he thinks an EO is the proper/legal way to do it.

Regardless, his continued lack of clarity or any sort of consistent ideological goal on the issue will of course be used ad nauseam by Biden's weird fans to insist that he never really promised anything so it was wrong and stupid for anyone to get their hopes up in the first place.
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

"This guy are sick"
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
18,891
USA
This would eliminate more than half of my remaining student loan debt and make the remaining monthly installments easily manageable, so yes it would be an immediate and huge relief. I could probably pay the remainder off in the next 2-3 years without breaking a sweat, and probably within a year and a half's time if I really focused on it. Otherwise, it's looking like another 4-5 year heavy monthly burden. It and rent pretty much dictate my entire finances. This break from installments has let me clear all of my other debts easily, and that in itself is a relief too.
 
Chirotera

Chirotera

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,278
$10k is still shit to me. I've added more than that in interest alone.

$50k would actually save my life. But once again, the government does. Not. Care.
 
samoyed

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
He's "open" to NOT using EO to cancel debt. I do not know what other avenues are available to him though. Thread title is super weird.
 
Watchtower

Watchtower

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,681
Nerokis said:
Well, forget the left. Even when Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer of all people are the ones asking for more, Biden keeps defaulting to the half-ass option.

This is one example: Schumer asks for $50,000 of student loan forgiveness, and somehow the dude is hesitant to even throw out $10,000.

Another example came up during the stimulus negotiations:

Mr. Biden on Sunday applauded the willingness of lawmakers to "reach across the aisle" and called the effort a "model for the challenging work ahead for our nation." He was also not an idle bystander in the negotiations.
With Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate far apart on how much they were willing to accept in new pandemic spending, Mr. Biden on Dec. 2 threw his support behind the $900 billion plan being pushed by the centrist group. The total was less than half of the $2 trillion that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, had been insisting on.

This is annoying as fuck, to be honest. Yeah, sure, it all makes a difference, but the unwillingness to fight for more is deflating.
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Yeah, all of this is why I'm actually not happy with this development. Even the wording "suggests openness" is infuriating.

Yes $10k is better than nothing, and yes for a good chunk of people that'll be enough to save them. But even centrist Dems are willing to shoot higher. This isn't an appeal to them, this is an appeal to Republicans, assuring them that no, he's not going to go that hard in the paint, that he's not that crazy.

It bodes poorly because it suggests that he's going to try the same ol' niceties and the same ol' high road to encourage the same ol' fair play, and we've already seen how this goes. If he's not willing to actually seize the power he's been given then we're fucked.
 
Blader

Blader

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,644
I just want a firm commitment one way or the other on this. I've not been putting money into my loans the last couple months because even 10K forgiveness would wipe out most of what I still owe, and it would be stupid to spend any more now if come January I won't owe anything. But if he's not going to do it, I need to know that asap so I can get back to paying these down.

Nerokis said:
Another example came up during the stimulus negotiations:

Mr. Biden on Sunday applauded the willingness of lawmakers to "reach across the aisle" and called the effort a "model for the challenging work ahead for our nation." He was also not an idle bystander in the negotiations.
With Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate far apart on how much they were willing to accept in new pandemic spending, Mr. Biden on Dec. 2 threw his support behind the $900 billion plan being pushed by the centrist group. The total was less than half of the $2 trillion that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, had been insisting on.

This is annoying as fuck, to be honest. Yeah, sure, it all makes a difference, but the unwillingness to fight for more is deflating.
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It is not an unwillingness to fight! Democrats had passed a $2 trillion bill back in May and stood on that for months! But if you don't have the Senate and you don't have the White House, you can't pass the bills you want exactly the way you want them. Hell the only reason McConnell is backing stimulus checks now isn't because Democrats fought him on the issue for months (something he doesn't care about at all!) or out of concern for the public (something he also doesn't care about) but because he's worried a lack of checks will hurt Perdue and Loeffler in the runoffs.

gogosox82 said:
Openness when he says "I'd be unlikely to do that"? That is certainly a way to frame it.
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The "unlikely to do that" is in reference to wiping out 50k via EO. The distinction is right in the OP -- unlikely re: 50K, supportive re: 10K.
 
samoyed

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
Chirotera said:
Private loans are never in this ballgame.
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Because the executive has some legal authority over public loans but not private loans. It is not because they think private debtors are not worth aid, just that they have few tools here to provide aid.

As Warren and others have noted, however, the Higher Education Act of 1965 (which is current law) provides legal authority for the U.S. Secretary of Education to cancel student loans. In their view, the president already has legal authority to cancel student loans. They reference Section 432(a) of the Higher Education Act, which grants the U.S. Secretary of Education the authority "to modify, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including any equity or any right of redemption." While the Education Secretary has relied on this provision to cancel student loans, most student loan debt cancellation has been relatively small compared to the current proposals for widespread student loan debt cancellation. For example, student loans can be cancelled due to fraud, school closure or total and permanent disability. It's unlikely, however, that Congress would grant the president unchecked, unilateral power to cancel student loans of any amount for every student loan borrower without any congressional approval.
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www.forbes.com

No, Joe Biden Can’t Forgive $50,000 Of Student Loans

Cancel student loans is trending on Twitter. Why?
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

TL;DR: There is a law from 1965 the Secretary of Education can use to cancel federal loans and the SecEd is beholden to the Prez. However, some people, especially opponents of cancellation, argue that it is not a proper usage of the law and Congress would probably take back that authority as they have authority over matters of federal spending.
 
Sandfox

Sandfox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,743
Cerrius said:
"I'm unsure of that. I'd be unlikely to do that."

uhh.. that doesn't seem to signal openness at all. Sounds like he's going to play centrist on this and leave it up to congress.
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The "unlikely" part is about forgiving up to 50k and the "openness" part is about about loan forgiveness in general.
 
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