Biden’s student loan forgiveness programme blocked by bill

Both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives have now passed a bill to block President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness programme, which promises to cancel up to US$20,000 of debt for millions of borrowers but has been held up by courts, writes Katie Lobosco for CNN.

The bill now goes to Biden’s desk for his signature, but the president has pledged to veto the legislation. Some moderate Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday 1 June and the House passed the legislation last week.

The White House has argued that the proposal to cancel some student debt will help protect borrowers from defaulting when student loan payments resume later this year after a years’ long pandemic-related pause. But Republicans argue that the student loan forgiveness programme is unlawful and shifts the cost of the debt to taxpayers who chose not to go to college or already paid off their student loans. Blocking the programme could reduce the deficit by nearly US$320 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Full report on the CNN site