Under a plan that President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, Americans with student loan debt may not have to make payments until August. Biden said that this would give the Supreme Court a chance to hear a case against his policy.
In response to a challenge from six Republican-led states, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to reverse a lower court’s decision to stop his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt.
Biden said on Twitter that people won’t have to pay back their student loans while the case is ongoing, which could be until June 30. The U.S. Department of Education said that payments would start again in 60 days, which could be in late August.
Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for people who make less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 if they are married. This policy will help millions of Americans.
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The U.S. president said on Tuesday, “I’m sure that our student debt relief plan is legal, but it’s on hold because Republican officials want to stop it.”
In September, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the government would have to pay about $400 billion to forgive the debt. Republicans are worried that the plan would cause prices to go up.
The policy made good on a promise the Democratic president made during the 2020 campaign to help former college students with a lot of debt.
Another decision by a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, that also threatens the debt-relief program is being fought by the government. The U.S. On November 10, Judge Mark Pittman said that the program was wrong.
After Pittman’s decision, the government stopped taking applications for help with student debt.