After a first attempt blocked by the Supreme Court, Joe Biden, campaigning for a second term, will present on Monday a new attempt to erase or reduce the student debt of millions of Americans, officials of his government announced.
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The American president will officially unveil his project in Wisconsin. This state in the Great Lakes region will play a decisive role in the November election, which will pit Joe Biden against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
For beneficiaries, the measures announced Monday “mean that they will be able to breathe a little, no longer having the feeling that student debt repayments are in competition with basic needs such as food and health,” explained the Minister of Education, Miguel Cardona, during an exchange with the press.
Joe Biden “will use all the tools at his disposal to erase the debt of as many borrowers as possible, no matter how many times Republican elected officials get in his way,” said Karine Jean. -Pierre, White House spokesperson.
The measures unveiled Monday, if successful, would eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, erase all debts for more than 4 million borrowers, and result in debt forgiveness of at least $5,000 for more than 10 million people, according to a White House press release.
The US executive wants to start implementing these promises in the fall.
The presidential election, accompanied by legislative elections, is scheduled for November 5.
Acting on the colossal debt that Americans contract to finance their studies was already a key promise of candidate Biden in 2020.
Once president, he launched a plan aimed at erasing several hundred billion debts, which the Republicans attacked in court.
The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, swept aside the project, ruling that the Democrat should have obtained authorization from Congress.
Asked about the risk of seeing the courts also block the decisions announced on Monday, a senior American official assured that the Biden government had “carefully studied the Supreme Court’s decision”.
“We intend to implement these measures in a way that is completely consistent with this decision,” he said in response to questions from the press.
According to the NGO Education Data Initiative, total student debt in the United States in 2023 amounted to $1,727 billion, of which the vast majority (more than 92%) were federal loans.
College in the United States is expensive, and tuition fees can reach astronomical amounts for the most prestigious institutions.
On its internet page, Harvard University announces tuition fees of $56,550 for the year 2024-2025, and specifies that by adding various costs (food, housing, health, etc.) the bill exceeds 82 000 dollars.
