Under new set of plans announced Monday by President Biden, over 30 million borrowers nationwide would be eligible for debt relief
Landmark steps taken by Biden admin—and urged by Murray—have already resulted in nearly $2.5 billion in relief for 51,050 borrowers in Washington state alone
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), issued the following statement on President Biden’s announcement Monday of his administration’s plans to deliver additional debt relief to tens of millions of borrowers across the country.
The new regulatory plans—which come after the Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s historic student debt relief plan—would, if finalized as proposed, benefit more than 30 million borrowers, fully eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, deliver forgiveness of 4 million borrowers’ full balances, and provide more than 10 million borrowers at least $5,000 in relief.
“This is another transformative step from the President to deliver much-needed relief to tens of millions of student borrowers across our country.
“No one should ever be stuck paying more on accrued interest than they borrowed in the first place, and the President’s plan would wipe out unpaid interest for tens of millions of borrowers. It will deliver forgiveness to borrowers who have been paying off their loans for decades and extend more relief to more people.
“The President’s new plans build on a host of steps I have pushed for that have now delivered nearly $2.5 billion in debt relief to tens of thousands of borrowers in Washington state alone.
“After the conservative majority on the Supreme Court blocked historic debt forgiveness—and as Republican elected officials continue working to deny millions of Americans life-changing relief—President Biden and Democrats in Congress are going to keep using every tool at our disposal to take stress off borrowers’ shoulders, tackle the student debt crisis, and ensure everyone can afford a higher education.”
As a senior member and former chair of the HELP Committee, Senator Murray has helped lead the charge to make the student loan system work better for students and families, ensure borrowers get the relief they are entitled to, and lower the cost of college. In 2020, she called for the federal government to forgive at least $10k in student debt—and in 2022, she urged the Biden administration to take a series of steps to fix the broken student loan system and deliver more relief for more borrowers. She called for giving struggling borrowers a fresh start by placing those in default before the payment pause back into good standing, making income-driven repayment (IDR) more generous and easier to access, and forgiving some debt for all borrowers—all steps the Biden administration has since taken and which have delivered historic relief for borrowers.
Through the series of steps the Biden administration has taken to help borrowers through income-driven repayment, reforms of the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, and other key steps, more than 2.5 million borrowers have already received over $123 billion in debt relief—including 51,050 borrowers in Washington state receiving nearly $2.5 billion in relief.
Senator Murray has also successfully secured major increases in the maximum Pell Grant so that it goes farther for students, has led legislation to double the Pell Grant and provide two years of free community college nationwide, and has been relentless in working to ensure defrauded borrowers get the relief they are entitled to.