Biden Extends Student Loan Repayment Freeze, But Doesn't Cancel Debt

By Sharon Zhang, Truthout

President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Wednesday that his administration is once again going to extend the student loan payment pause, which is currently set to expire in May.

According to administration officials, Biden will only extend the pause for three months. The new expiration date would be August 31.

Though the action received limited praise from lawmakers, it’s far from what debt advocates and Democrats and progressives in Congress have been demanding. Last week, nearly 100 Democrats sent a letter to Biden urging him to extend the payment pause through at least the end of the year, and to cancel student debt as he promised to do on the campaign trail.

Without student debt cancellation, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) pointed out, borrowers will continue to live under looming deadlines, which can add to financial stress.

“I think some folks read these extensions as savvy politics, but I don’t think those folks understand the panic and disorder it causes people to get so close to these deadlines just to extend the uncertainty,” she wrote in reaction to the extension news. “It doesn’t have the effect people think it does. We should cancel them.”