Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Monday that over 8 million people have already filled out applications to have their student loans forgiven days after the Department of Education launched the application.
Cardona shared the number at a White House event where President Joe Biden touted the newly launched website, where student loan borrowers who make less than $125,000 per year can apply to receive $10,000 in student loan cancellation or $20,000 if they had received a Pell grant. The 8 million applicants represent a fraction of the estimated 43 million borrowers eligible for debt cancellation.
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BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ROLLS OUT STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS APPLICATION BETA WEBSITE
The president blasted Republicans who opposed the administration’s move, saying their criticisms are “wrong and hypocritical.”
“I will never apologize for helping working Americans and middle-class people as they recover from the pandemic,” Biden said. “Especially not the same Republicans who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut in the last administration that mainly benefited the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations.”
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Since the launch of the application, congressional Democrats have repeatedly promoted the link to the website and encouraged people to fill out the short form.
“I’ve already heard from 100s of constituents how much The President’s student loan cancellation will be effecting them,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) wrote in a tweet. “Tens of thousands of dollars of debt — hundreds of dollars a month in payments — wiped out in 5 minutes using the White House’s app.”
https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1582088880710332416?s=20&t=LDOM077UocC5aM8iPyv9bw”The deadline to apply is December 31st, 2023. But it only takes minutes to apply, and you don’t need to upload any forms, so why not apply tonight?” wrote Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
https://twitter.com/gillibrandny/status/1582096472350547968?s=20&t=LDOM077UocC5aM8iPyv9bwIn contrast, Republicans in Congress, who have blasted the loan forgiveness program as a handout to elite and well-off voters, have declined to share the application link or even comment on whether or not their constituents should take advantage of the program.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, blasted her Democratic colleagues as “shameless” and said, “Instead of pushing this kind of policy,” they “should join Republicans back at the drawing board so we can work together on a sensible, bipartisan policy.”
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“Leftist lawmakers are pushing this administration’s student loan cancellation agenda instead of working on policies to address the root problems of our postsecondary education system,” Foxx continued. “Keep in mind, the president’s scheme will cost taxpayers, including those who never went to college, hundreds of billions of dollars.”
