Democrats Press Biden to Extend Freeze on Student Loan Payments
American Bankruptcy Institute on 03/25/22 reports:
Democrats in Congress are pressing the Biden administration to extend the suspension of student loan payments before it’s set to expire May 1 as they seek to avoid cutting off a pandemic-induced benefit in the middle of an election year, The Hill reported. The federal student loan payments suspension has already been extended five times throughout the COVID-19 pandemic since it began under former President Trump in March 2020. That means millions of people who owe student loans to the federal government haven’t been required to make payments on their debt in two years, all while interest rates on those loans have been set to zero. But President Biden has yet to say whether he’ll renew it again, after last extending it in December amid surging cases of COVID-19. The freeze on federal student loan payments has had more staying power than other popular federal aid programs designed to help people stay afloat during the pandemic. By contrast, the ban on evictions, enhanced unemployment benefits and expanded child tax credit have all lapsed over the past year. And the longer that millions of people have adapted to budgets that don’t include monthly student loan payments, the harder it will be for Democrats to reinstate them. Dozens of Democrats are calling for an extension that lasts at least through the end of this year. “Millions of borrowers have benefited from the pause in payments,” a group of more than 40 House Democrats ranging from progressives to lawmakers in competitive districts wrote in a letter to Biden this week. “Although progress has been made, we believe it is vital to ensure that we continue to work to alleviate the continued impact the pandemic is having on families across the country.”