Last October, tens of thousands of Nebraskans received emails informing them that they were eligible for student loan forgiveness under a Biden administration proposal.
Nearly two-thirds of the 232,100 borrowers in Nebraska who were deemed eligible for the relief program, according to the White House’s report from last month, have applied and been accepted.
26.2 Million Student Loan Forgiveness Applicants
Before the program was put on hold by a court order, 97,000 borrowers in Nebraska submitted applications to loan-servicing businesses in order to discharge up to $20,000 in debt.
According to figures released by the US Department of Education, of the 26.2 million borrowers who requested forgiveness, about 16.5 million had their information sent to loan servicers nationwide.
House Republicans want President Biden’s extensive student debt relief efforts, including the current student loan freeze and widespread student loan forgiveness, to terminate.
Following the November elections, Republicans gained a slim majority in the House of Representatives, and GOP lawmakers are demanding massive budget cutbacks to federal programs in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling cap.
Last October, Biden made his extraordinary, comprehensive student loan debt relief program public. Millions of people with federal student loans could be eligible to have up to $20,000 in their debt canceled under his proposal.
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Federal Courts Reject Republican-Led States
However, two legal challenges brought by a coalition of Republican-led states and a conservative group were rejected by federal courts. The Supreme Court will hear appeals from the Biden administration later this month.
Next month marks the third anniversary of the current student loan suspension. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, student loan payments, interest, and collections were first postponed for six months.
However, President Trump and subsequently President Biden approved more than a dozen temporary extensions of the relief. In response to the legal challenges attempting to thwart his proposal for forgiving student loans, Biden announced his most recent extension. Currently, the payment moratorium will end 60 days after June 30, 2023, or whenever the Supreme Court rules on the debt relief plan.
Republicans seek to exploit their newly acquired (though slim) House of Representatives majority to compel the Biden administration to make large cuts to federal spending as a condition of any deal to increase the debt ceiling, a borrowing cap that Congress must approve on a yearly basis.
Notably, the debt ceiling only applies to debt that the government has already incurred, not to additional spending or potential future debt.
In a press release on Wednesday, the House Budget Committee listed seven areas where it would like to see Biden administration programs eliminated. Programs for reducing student loan debt are also included.
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