By Ashe O Washington on August 27, : The US Education department, brain behind US President Joe Biden’s huge billion-dollar write-off program for student loans, has pointed that it has legal status as per the HEROES act , and that the previous president Donald Trump was “substantively incorrect” in questioning its legality and claiming it would increase the budget deficit.
Just as the announcement by President Biden announced this relief and relief, his Education Department responded to the conclusion that former president Donald Trump made in a January 2021 memo from his term in office The authority is not in place to cancel student loans on behalf of all federally-owned borrowers.
“We have found that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Student (‘HEROES’) Act of 2003 gives the Secretary authority to create a program of targeted loan cancellation aimed towards addressing the financial burdens of the Covid-19 epidemic,” the General Counsel of the department Lisa Brown said.
“We have concluded that the January 2021 memo was in fact in error in the conclusions it made.”
Biden has announced during an White House press conference on Wednesday the cancellation of student loans of $10,000 for individuals with a income of less than $125,000 per year, and $20,000 if the spouse’s income is below $125,000 per year, which includes Pelts grant.
Biden stated: “All of this means people are able to climb out from beneath the burden of debt and get over the top of their mortgage and utilities, and consider buying a house or starting a family, or creating an enterprise.
“And by the way when this happens the economy will be more prosperous.”
Since Americans are continuing to enter work nearly two years since the pandemic first began it is now the an ideal time to start the repayment of student loan obligations.
Families and taxpayers should not be held responsible for the costs that are associated with the delay of repayment.
This common sense legislation would protect taxpayers from the wrath of government and prevent the president Biden from halting the federal student loan program in perpetuity.
However, some have were arguing for a different view.
For the entire time that student loans have been a major burden for millions of Americans There has been a question of what, and how it is legal for a president to erase a portion of the current $1.7 trillion debt crisis that involves 47 million debtors.
The Biden administration on Wednesday determined that the authority exists that allows for the cancellation of as much as $20,000 in student loans to Pell Grant recipients as well as federal borrowers.
The HEROES Act grants the Education Secretary power to “waive or alter any regulation or statute applicable to student financial aid programs” in the event that the secretary determines that waivers are needed to ensure that borrowers won’t be placed in the “worse situation financially” because of an emergency that affects the entire nation that, in this case is the pandemic the department of education suggested.
However the Education Secretary of Trump Betsy DeVos wrote in her memo that “Congress never intended to use the HEROES Act to be a means of massive cancellation or compromise, discharge or the forgiveness of principal balances of student loans or to significantly alter repayment terms or amounts,” ultimately arguing any broad relief would be overstepping Congress.
While DeVos memo is officially annulled, there are possible legal issues later on as well as lawsuits when Biden’s student loan forgiveness program is implemented according to the Insider said.
Biden himself has doubted the legality of student debt relief at a certain point in the past, according to Business Insider pointing to his campaign trail for the presidency in 2020.
Biden has said he will accept $10,000 in student loan forgiveness, however, in relation to a figure like $50,000, which a lot of Democrats wantedthe he was hesitant.
“My point is that I am aware of the effects of debtand how that it can be debilitating” Biden said during a town hall meeting last year.
“I am willing to discharge the $10,000 debt , but not $50,000 because I don’t believe I have the authority to do it.”
That’s the reason he requested both the Justice and Education Departments to write memos that would assess his legal authority to cancel student loans in general.
In the month of October, 2021 the redacted documents showed that the Education Department was circulating a memo in April 2021.
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