Washington:
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a new plan to reduce the student loan debt of millions of Americans in a new way to win over young voters who will be crucial to the November election.
The Democrat’s proposal comes after his initial larger ambition to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt was rejected by the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court in June.
“These plans, if implemented, would provide debt relief to more than 30 million Americans,” the White House said in a statement ahead of Biden’s speech in Madison, Wisconsin.
The plan would eliminate accrued interest for 23 million borrowers, cancel all student debt for another 4 million borrowers and provide at least $5,000 in debt relief to more than 10 million borrowers, the plan said.
“It means breathing space, it means student loan bills don’t conflict with basic needs like groceries or health care,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that Biden will “use every tool at his disposal” to cancel student debt “no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop him.”
A senior administration official said the new plan is “completely consistent” with last year’s court ruling, which the White House has studied “carefully.”
Young voters helped Biden defeat Republican then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, and he needs the support of a key demographic to come from behind in this year’s polls.
Biden’s student loan policy has been a key part of that, but it derailed when his plan to cancel more than $400 billion in debt was defeated.
The Supreme Court, made up of three justices appointed by Trump while in office, has moved sharply to the right in recent years, especially last year’s overturning of a landmark federal abortion rights.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
