In yet another move circumventing the Supreme Court on the question of student loan debt, Joe Biden announced the cancellation of approximately $1.2 billion in student loan debt for about 153,000 borrowers.
As reported by ABC News, the Biden Administration made the cancellation official on Wednesday, including a draft email that will be sent to all of the borrowers in question. The email will read, in part: “Congratulations — all or a portion of your federal student loans will be forgiven because you qualify for early loan forgiveness under my Administration’s SAVE Plan.”
The cancellation will apply to those who enrolled in the Biden Education Department’s SAVE Plan, focusing specifically on those who took out less than $12,000 in loans and has been paying back the debt for at least 10 years.
“This plan reflects our unapologetic commitment to deliver as much relief as possible to as many borrowers as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday.
There are over 7.5 million Americans enrolled in the SAVE Plan, which was launched in the summer of 2023.
With the latest cancellation, the total number of Americans who have had their student loan debt canceled to some degree by the Biden Administration is now about 3.9 million. The policy is widely seen as an attempt by Biden to pander to younger voters ahead of the 2024 election, as young voters are among the demographics that have soured the most on Biden since he first came to power in 2020.
However, the cancellations are largely unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court ruled last year that Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt through the executive branch was unlawful, and that he instead needed approval from Congress first. Thus, Biden’s continued efforts to cancel student debt are in direct defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, marking an unprecedented and unconstitutional move from the sitting president.