In the final weeks of his presidency, Biden announced a last-minute student loan handout, even as he abandons his broader plan to cancel student loans for over 38 million Americans, the Associated Press reported.
Biden will forgive $4.28 billion in student loans for 54,900 eligible public sector workers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, established by Congress in 2007 and expanded under his administration, the White House announced Friday. Biden will, however, scrap his pending regulations for broader student loan forgiveness, which remain tangled in legal challenges.
The Biden administration expects to pull back numerous unfinished regulations across multiple agencies if there is not enough time to finalize them before Biden leaves office, AP reported. One such proposal is a rule that would prevent schools from issuing sweeping bans against transgender athletes. Trump could rewrite the pending regulation to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports, according to AP.
The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's first sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch's power under the Constitution. Biden's second proposal remains tangled in court challenges.
Friday’s cancellations brought the total loan forgiveness granted by the Biden administration to around $180 billion for just under 5 million borrowers.