What President Joe Biden is selling as a win for student loan borrowers in the debt ceiling deal is actually a forfeiture of his own authority to help debtors and a ticking time bomb for tens of millions of Americans. Biden could still move to save his student debt cancellation agenda from conservative sabotage — but instead his administration has been downplaying the threat and assuring borrowers that everything is going to be just fine.
Student loan payments have been on pause for the past three years, as part of a COVID-era relief program initiated by former President Donald Trump. In one of a series of concessions to Republicans during the recent debt ceiling standoff, Biden must restart student loan payments by the end of this summer.
That means more than 40 million Americans will be once again crushed by debt, but it also strips Biden of his best tool to defend his broader student debt cancellation program: delay. His order to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for federal borrowers is expected to be struck down by the Supreme Court any day now — making it an inopportune moment for Biden to relinquish his power to extend the payment pause.