It’s Friday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 03/22/2024:
| 10:00 AM Presidential Daily Brief | The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Closed Press |
| 1:30 PM Press Briefing | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
| 3:25 PM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Overhang Out-of-Town Pool |
| 4:40 PM Leaves the White House | The President departs the White House en route New Castle, Delaware South Lawn Open Press |
| 5:35 PM Arrives in New Castle | The President arrives in New Castle, Delaware Out-of-Town Pool |
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre @1:30 p.m. D.C., time:
Student Loan Forgiveness Tweet
From Thursday…
My Administration is cancelling student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers – teachers, nurses, and more – via Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 21, 2024
870,000 public service workers have now had their debt cancelled. And we won't back down from delivering more relief. pic.twitter.com/06r4MiUVdM
From Friday…
Under my Administration, we’ve approved $144 billion in student debt cancellation for nearly four million Americans through various actions.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 22, 2024
I won’t back down from using every tool at my disposal to deliver more relief.
Today, my Administration is cancelling student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers – teachers, nurses, firefighters, and more – through Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
These public service workers have dedicated their careers to serving their communities, but because of past administrative failures, never got the relief they were entitled to under the law. Because of the fixes my Administration has made, we have now cancelled student debt for over 870,000 public service workers– compared to only about 7,000 public service borrowers ever receiving forgiveness prior to my Administration. And through all of our various student debt relief actions, nearly four million Americans have had their student debt cancelled under my Administration.
Today’s announcement comes on top of the significant progress we’ve achieved for students and student loan borrowers in the past few years. This includes: providing the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to help families who earn less than roughly $60,000 a year; fixing Income-Driven Repayment plans so borrowers in repayment for years get the relief they earned; and creating the most generous Income-Driven Repayment plan in history – the SAVE plan. Borrowers can go to studentaid.gov to apply. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on my Administration’s original student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.
From day one of my Administration, I promised to fix broken student loan programs and make sure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity. I won’t back down from using every tool at my disposal to deliver student debt relief to more Americans, and build an economy from the middle out and bottom up.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Nearly $6 Billion in Student Debt Cancellation for 78,000 Public Service Workers. 03/21/2024.
From the Department of Education…
03/21/2024:
President Biden will email an additional 380,000 public service workers thanking them for their service and notifying them they are on track to have their debt cancelled through PSLF within two years
The Biden-Harris Administration announced today the approval of $5.8 billion in additional student loan debt relief for 77,700 borrowers. These approvals are the result of fixes made by the Administration to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Today’s announcement brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris Administration to $143.6 billion for 3.96 million Americans. This action builds on President Biden and his Administration’s efforts to provide debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.
“For too long, our nation’s teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters, and other public servants faced logistical troubles and trap doors when they tried to access the debt relief they were entitled to under the law. With this announcement, the Biden-Harris Administration is showing how we’re taking further steps not only to fix those trap doors, but also to expand opportunity to many more Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Today, more than 100 times more borrowers are eligible for PSLF than there were at the beginning of the Administration. The Biden Administration is turning a promise broken under our predecessor into a promise kept.”
The debt relief announced today includes borrowers who have benefitted from the Biden-Harris Administration’s limited PSLF waiver as well as regulatory improvements made to the program by the Administration. Total relief through PSLF is now $62.5 billion for 871,000 borrowers since October 2021. Prior to the Biden-Harris Administration’s fixes to PSLF, only about 7,000 borrowers had ever received forgiveness.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is proud to provide relief for another 77,700 borrowers who have given back to their communities through public service,” said U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal. “We hope this relief provides borrowers and their families some much needed breathing room.”
An additional nearly 380,000 borrowers who are within two years, or 24 qualifying payments, of receiving forgiveness under PSLF will also receive an email from President Biden starting next week thanking them for their service and notifying them that if they continue in their public service work, they will be eligible for forgiveness within that time frame: “The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is an important way to bring more Americans into public service and help them get out from under the burden of student loan debt. But for too long, the program failed to live up to its commitments – and public service workers like you never got the relief you are entitled to under the law because of errors and administrative failures. I vowed to fix that, and I’m proud that my Administration has delivered on that promise,” the email from President Biden notes. “I hope you continue the important work of serving your community – and if you do, in less than two years you could get your remaining student loans forgiven through Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” the President adds.
Biden-Harris Administration Approves Additional $5.8 Billion in Student Debt Relief for 78,000 Public Service Workers. 03/21/2024.
An unparalleled track record of borrower assistance
The Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic steps to reduce the burden of student debt and ensure that student loans are not a barrier to opportunity for students and families. The Administration secured the largest increase to Pell Grants in a decade and finalized new rules to protect borrowers from career programs that leave graduates with unaffordable debts or insufficient earnings. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on the Administration’s original student debt relief plan, the Administration continues its work to pursue an alternative path to debt relief through negotiated rulemaking under the Higher Education Act.
Beyond the relief under PSLF, the Biden-Harris Administration has also approved:
Biden-Harris Administration Approves Additional $5.8 Billion in Student Debt Relief for 78,000 Public Service Workers. 03/21/2024.
- $45.6 billion for 930,500 borrowers through improvements to income-driven repayment plans.
- $22.5 billion for more than 1.3 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions precipitously close, or are covered by related court settlements.
- $11.7 billion for almost 513,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.
- $1.7 billion for 29,700 borrowers through administrative adjustments to IDR payment counts
In the press release they list the breakdown of debt forgiven by state; I omitted the list to save space.
Lowering Housing Costs Tweet
From Thursday…
For homeowners looking for a new place but worried about giving up their lower mortgage rate, I'm proposing a $10,000 tax credit if they sell their starter homes.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 21, 2024
That means more folks can get into houses that suit their needs, unlocking affordable homes for first-time buyers.
From the White House…
Snips:
- Mortgage Relief Credit. President Biden is calling on Congress to pass a mortgage relief credit that would provide middle-class first-time homebuyers with a tax credit of $10,000 over two years. This is the equivalent of reducing the mortgage rate by more than 1.5 percentage points for two years on the median home, saving families $400 per month on their mortgage payments. It will help more than 3.5 million middle-class families purchase their first home over the next two years. The President’s plan also calls for a new credit to unlock inventory of affordable starter homes, while helping middle-class families move up the housing ladder and empty nesters right size. The President is calling on Congress to provide a one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to middle-class families who sell their starter home, defined as homes below the area median home price in the county, to another owner-occupant. This proposal is estimated to help nearly 3 million families.
- Promoting Competition in the Housing Market. In his State of the Union Address, the President discussed the importance of boosting competition and lowering housing costs, and the Department of Justice has made those goals a priority. Last week’s settlement reached by the National Association of Realtors is an important step toward boosting competition in the housing market. It could save as much as $10,000 on the median home sale. Now, the Administration is calling on realtors and lenders to offer more choices and lower costs, while promoting access to homeownership for first-time, low-income, and low-wealth homebuyers.
Remarks by President Biden on Lowering Housing Costs for American Families | Las Vegas, NV (March 19, 2024); the YouTube is 29 minutes and 8 seconds long
The proposal is part of President Biden’s Presidential Budget that was released on 03/11/2024…
Ahead of the State of the Union…
“New” from the White House…
03/21/2024:
03/22/2024:
This is an Open Thread.
