Fight for Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan isn’t over, says Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

The White House plans to keep fighting for student loan forgiveness in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that killed President Biden’s $400 billion plan, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Sunday.

“We’re not stopping the fight,” he said Sunday on MSNBC’s “‘Inside with Jen Psaki.” “We are moving forward with another pathway to debt relief.”

Cardona was echoing comments from Biden following Friday’s ruling that the president had overstepped his authority by moving to forgive billions in student debt.

Biden quickly announced an “alternative path to debt relief” through forthcoming federal rules, along with lowering the amount of debt that will have to be repaid each month. And for 12 months starting when loan payments come due this fall, people will be spared serious penalties for missing payments, Biden promised, calling the measure an “on-ramp” to debt repayment.

“While interest will accrue and payments are due, we are not going to be harming those who are struggling to make payments for the first 12 months,” Cardona said.

“We’re not going to be giving information to credit reporting agencies,” he added. “We want to make sure we’re preventing people from falling into default and delinquencies, and we are creating that on-ramp.”

Along with decrying the Supreme Court’s decision, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took exception with details of the “on-ramp.”

“People should not be incurring interest during this 12-month on-ramp period,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “So I highly urge the administration to consider suspending those interest payments.”

Cardona said the White House previously ruled out extending the current pause on loan payments past the fall.

“We want to make sure we’re doing it in a way that is supportive of our borrowers, and recognizing the fact that for many of them, they are going to be struggling to make payments,” he said.

With News Wire Services