Joe Biden gave himself a deadline of August 31 to decide what to do about the $1.75 trillion in student loan debt that more than 30 million Americans owe. With that date fast approaching, Biden is looking for some political cover to shield himself from the wrath of far-left groups who won’t settle for anything less than a total wipe of student loan debt or the rest of us who would be enraged if Biden gives debtors a free pass.
Biden finds himself handcuffed by the law as well as political instincts that are telling him to look for another way out. The president’s advisors have been telling him for months that he can’t just sign away student loan debt. He can only forgive certain loans given under specific programs authorized by Congress.
The president is holding a virtual meeting today between government officials and student loan advocacy groups. He’ll get no new ideas from the radicals. But he can announce his anticipated extension of the endless pause in student loan repayment, probably through the November election.
The Biden administration is widely expected, at a minimum, to further extend that freeze on payments until at least after the November elections, as many top Democrats have urged the White House to do. Education Department officials have already signaled a likely extension of the payment pause by telling loan-servicing companies to hold off on sending borrowers notices that their payments are resuming.
But the broader question of a mass loan cancellation program is more complicated. White House advisers have long been divided over the policy wisdom and political ramifications of forgiving large amounts of student debt. The internal decision-making process has dragged on for months without resolution.
Biden has canceled $17 billion in student loan debt since he took office. Liberal Democrats — especially Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — are demanding that Biden go the rest of the way and cancel all of it. Warren bases her argument on the idea that Congress intended the president to have that kind of power.
Supporters of wide-scale student loan forgiveness argue that Biden has the existing legal authority to cancel student loans. According to their position, in the Higher Education Act of 1964, Congress granted legal authority to the president to enact wide-scale student loan cancellation through the U.S. Secretary of Education. Importantly, their position is that the president has the unlimited legal authority to cancel an unlimited amount of student loan debt for every student loan borrower. So, if Biden has the power to forgive student loans for some student loan borrowers, then he should have the authority to cancel everyone’s student loans.
It’s not settled law that Biden has the legal authority to enact wide-scale student loan cancellation. (Student loan cancellation could look different than you think). Yes, the Higher Education Act of 1964 empowers the president through the Education Secretary to forgive student loans, but opponents argue Congress never granted unlimited authority to cancel an unlimited amount of student loan debt for an unlimited amount of student loan borrowers.
Congress never intended to abdicate its full authority over student loans to the executive branch. In this case, the vagueness of the law can’t be used to take a mile when only an inch is called for.
Still, Democrats will pressure Biden to try it. Republicans in Congress will challenge it immediately and will claim the president didn’t have the constitutional authority to cancel all the debt. But what if Biden were to suspend repayment of student loan debt indefinitely? The point is that the radicals have several more cards to play before they’re willing to admit defeat.
The unhappy fact for Biden is that no matter what he does, a lot of voters are going to be mad at him.