President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday at 2:15 EST that he would provide $20,000 in debt relief to Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for all other borrowers in what can only be seen as a win for everyday people. That is -- unless you're Jim Jordan.
Via CNBC:
The relief will be limited to Americans earning under $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples or heads of households. The relief is also capped at the amount of a borrower's outstanding eligible debt, per the Education Department.
This is a BFD:
Forbes published an excellent piece on student forgiveness back in May:
Student loan cancellation would not only provide substantial relief to millions of borrowers, but would also help narrow the racial wealth gap and advance racial equity, according to a new analysis led by a University of California Merced professor.
...
The report (prepared by Dr. Charlie Eaton) also analyzed the impact that cancellation would have on racial gaps in student debt, which would in turn impact the racial wealth gap. For example, $10,000 of loan cancellation would zero out loan balances for 2 million Black borrowers, which would "reduce the share of Black individuals with student debt from 24 percent to 17 percent and close the Black-white gap in the share of individuals with student debt from 9 percentage points to 6 percentage points." $50,000 of forgiveness would reduce the share of Black individuals with student debt more steeply, dropping it to 6 percent.
This isn't the wealthiest getting yet another tax break. This is real Americans getting a break for a change. Republicans love to say that they paid off their loans, so why should we pay off anyone else's? A college education should not put anyone in debt for a lifetime. That needs to change. Republicans know the system is broken. They just don't care if it doesn't benefit them. And you know that some of their constituents will benefit from this major accomplishment of Biden's.
Hundreds of billions of dollars in consumer debt are about to be wiped out.
UPDATE: (Karoli) Here are more details. It looks like the interest provision will help a LOT of people.
