On Friday, August 6, the Department of Education announced its “final” extension of the federal student loan repayment moratorium, which was enacted via the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P. L. 116 – 136). While repayments, interests and collections were set to resume on Friday, October 1, 2021, the deadline has now been extended until Monday, January 31, 2022.
In a statement, Secretary of the Department of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, called the extended pause “a lifeline that [will allow] millions of Americans to focus on their families, health and finances instead of student loans during the national emergency.”
Furthermore, this extension also gives the Biden-Harris administration more time to deliberate calls from progressive lawmakers to cancel upwards of $50,000 in federal student loan debt via executive action. In a press release published after the announcement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) continued to urge the administration to cancel federal student loan debt and asserted that it would be “one of the most significant actions that President Biden can take right now to build a more just economy and address racial inequity.”
Despite the trio continuing to assert that the Higher Education Act of 1965 (P. L. 89-329) grants the president the authority to cancel federal student loan debt broadly, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected their argument during a news conference, stating “people think that [President Biden] has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone, he can delay but he does not have [the power to forgive]. That has to be an Act of Congress.”
The Biden-Harris administration has previously canceled approximately $9.5 billion for about 563,000 federal student loan borrowers defrauded by their institution of higher education or unable to make payments due to total or permanent disability status. Both the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education are currently reviewing the president’s legal authority to widely forgive federal student loan debt via executive action.
