The White House has approved nearly $144 billion in federal loan forgiveness for about 4 million borrowers in total, according to the administration.
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that theĀ White Househas approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion inĀ federal student debtĀ for thousands of public service workers.
The 78,000 eligible public service workers include teachers, nurses and firefighters, according to the White House.
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Itās the latest student debt cancellation move throughĀ Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, which allow eligible borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven if they have made a certain number of payments and are working for approved employers.
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Last year, theĀ Supreme CourtĀ invalidated Bidenās more far-reaching student loan debt relief plan, arguing that it was unlawful because Congress did not explicitly approve the move.
See my other response:
portion of other response
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Donāt get me wrong, Democrats have been sitting on their hands, taking the high road and killing progressive reforms in the name of ācompromiseā for many years now, and are also funded by rich oligarchs. Biden as a senator voted for the bill preventing student loans being discharged during the same term under W. But the President isnāt King (I will say at least not until November this year), and canāt unilaterally write legislation.
Democratic senators are introducing legilslation, some of them progressive like Sandersā 32 h work week law. In the house they propose bills but none will get to the floor without Johnsonās approval.
Right, this is kind of my point. Dems are far too acquiescent to Republican framing. The news-media is wholly complicit in this as well, but thatās another matter.
Instead of fear mongering about orange man bad, why not galvanize support behind actual progressive policies (which are extremely popular btw)? Where are the Dems repeatedly and loudly asking republicans about the last time they proposed any legislation at all that would meaningfully improve the lives of their constituents, ideally in those Repugsā own districts where it would get free local news coverage and be seen by voters? Instead theyāre content to play the republican games, and āslamā them on msnbc for repeatedly failing to impeach Biden or some such nonsense. This isnāt reaching voters and wonāt do anything to garner independent votes in November. The Dems maintaining the status quo is enough to convince many of us that their true goal is for ānothing to fundamentally change.ā
The president isnāt king, thankfully youāre right about that. Monarchists can fuck off. But the president can wield a tremendous amount of power and influence via the bully pulpit. We donāt see that from Biden, and itās a shame, because we could really benefit from an energetic and engaged leader at this time. Instead it looks like more of a competition to see who can lose the least amount of supporters before Novemberā¦very disheartening. When can we have leaders who will actually fight for us?
You raise very good questions that I do not have the answers to. As a generation the best I can think of is to fight back both at the ballot box and organize in the streets.
Iāll see you there =]