Biden Unveils Latest Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

“Thanks to what we’re doing, student debt is no longer holding you back,” President Biden said to a cheering crowd in Wisconsin on Monday. “This relief can be life-changing.”

Biden unveiled his second attempt at large-scale student loan forgiveness ahead of the November election, where he trails former President Trump by 1.1 percentage points in the voter surveys, according to the latest RCP Polling Average. Surveys suggest such a move could play particularly well among young voters, who suffer disproportionately from student loan debt.

A first attempt at student loan debt forgiveness was struck down by the Supreme Court last summer, news that deeply disappointed many struggling to pay off their debt. The new plan could benefit more than 30 million Americans, or 70% of all federal student loan borrowers, according to the White House.

Biden traveled to Madison for the announcement, just one week after the Wisconsin primary. The Badger State, like most swing states, has been rocky terrain for Biden. He trails by 0.6 points in the RCP Average, and last week’s primary vote saw over 47,000 Wisconsin Democrats choose “uninstructed” instead of Biden, more than double his narrow margin of victory in the state in 2020.

The announcement will invite a boost in support among voters under 35, a group whose distaste for the president has been palpable this year. A recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows that 49% of Gen Z/millennial voters are leaning toward Biden, while 51% lean toward Trump. Four years ago, Biden won voters under 30 by 25 points, and no Republican has won young voters since George H.W. Bush’s landslide victory in 1988.

Many young voters are particularly displeased with the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, but there are concerns about the economy as well. A sweeping plan for student loan forgiveness – especially if relief kicks in before the election, as the White House suggests it will – could do wonders for the Biden cause.

However, Biden will likely face legal hurdles mirroring those he saw last time around. Several Republican attorneys general signaled their intentions to challenge the program once it is finalized.

“It appears that the proposal will be another attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s initial ruling to help the president garner votes in November,” said a spokeswoman for Austin Knudsen, Montana’s attorney general.

After the Supreme Court rejected Biden’s first plan, his administration immediately tasked the Department of Education with developing a more narrowly targeted program. The White House hopes this revised attempt will stand stronger against legal challenges.

The election-year proposal would benefit specific groups of borrowers, including those experiencing “financial hardship” and those who have balances bigger than what they originally borrowed due to interest.

Even if Biden’s latest plan gets held up in the courts, White House officials hope Americans will give him credit for trying. Since the Supreme Court blocked the first attempt, the administration has used existing regulations to waive $138 billion in student loan debts for about 4 million borrowers.

“President Biden will use every tool available to cancel student loan debt for as many borrowers as possible no matter how many Republican officials stand in his way,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said.