{"id":141237,"date":"2020-12-25T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/biden-on-using-executive-action-to-cancel-50000-in-student-debt-i-think-thats-pretty-questionable\/"},"modified":"2020-12-25T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T22:05:00","slug":"biden-on-using-executive-action-to-cancel-50000-in-student-debt-i-think-thats-pretty-questionable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/biden-on-using-executive-action-to-cancel-50000-in-student-debt-i-think-thats-pretty-questionable\/","title":{"rendered":"#\n  Biden on using executive action to cancel $50,000 in student debt: \u2018I think that\u2019s pretty questionable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfb0959c41\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfb0959c41\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/biden-on-using-executive-action-to-cancel-50000-in-student-debt-i-think-thats-pretty-questionable\/#President-elect_wades_into_a_raging_debate_over_canceling_student_debt\" >President-elect wades into a raging debate over canceling student debt<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/biden-on-using-executive-action-to-cancel-50000-in-student-debt-i-think-thats-pretty-questionable\/#Jillian_Berman\" >Jillian Berman<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#<br \/>\n  Biden on using executive action to cancel $50,000 in student debt: \u2018I think that\u2019s pretty questionable\u2019<br \/>\n<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"President-elect_wades_into_a_raging_debate_over_canceling_student_debt\"><\/span>\n  President-elect wades into a raging debate over canceling student debt<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\">\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000111177\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       President-elect Joe Biden said he is \u201cunlikely\u201d to use his authority to unilaterally cancel $50,000 in student debt for individual borrowers, weighing in on a debate that\u2019s been raging for several months.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI\u2019m going to get in trouble for saying this, [but] it\u2019s arguable that the president may have the executive power to forgive up to $50,000 in student debt,\u201d Biden <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/trump-is-trashing-the-government-on-his-way-out-biden-is-confident-he-can-fix-it\/2020\/12\/23\/c69fc9c2-4553-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html\" class=\"icon none\">told the Washington Post<\/a>\u2019s Karen Tumulty. \u201cWell, I think that\u2019s pretty questionable. I\u2019m unsure of that. I\u2019d be unlikely to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       The idea of broad student-debt cancellation has its origins in Occupy Wall Street, but it burst in earnest onto the mainstream political stage during the Democratic primaries, when Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigned on some form of student-debt cancellation as they vied for the party\u2019s nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The combination of the economic devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and Biden\u2019s election to the presidency has given the idea new urgency. With the status of Congress uncertain and the possibility that it will remain divided if Democrats fall short in the runoffs for Georgia\u2019s two U.S. Senate seats next month, student-debt cancellation has emerged as a policy <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach that the incoming administration could use to provide some relief to borrowers without Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>See:<\/strong>  Republican Senate incumbent Loeffler falls behind Democrat Warnock in latest Georgia runoff polling<\/p>\n<p>In September, Sen. Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged the incoming president to im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely cancel up to $50,000 in student debt, a call that other lawmakers, including House Democrats Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, have echoed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve argued that the president has the legal authority to cancel the debt.<\/p>\n<p>In <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.warren.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/Ltr%20to%20Warren%20re%20admin%20debt%20cancellation.pdf\" class=\"icon none\">a letter<\/a> accompanying Warren and Schumer\u2019s resolution in September, attorneys from Harvard Law School\u2019s project on Predatory Student Lending wrote that \u201cCongress has granted the Secretary a more specific and unrestricted authority to create and to cancel or modify debt owed under federal student loan programs in the Higher Education Act (HEA) itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the president could direct the secretary of education to cancel the debt.<\/p>\n<p>That authority is what Biden appeared to be questioning in the interview published Wednesday. And even among those who support broad-based student-debt cancellation, there is some concern about pursuing that outcome through executive action.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>David Bergeron, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, is in that camp. Bergeron, who worked at the Department of Education for more than 30 years, said going around Congress raises a number of legal questions, including how the department would pay back the money the agency borrowed from the Treasury Department when it originated the loans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That, Bergeron said, would put Department of Education officials, including the secretary, at risk of violating the Anti-Deficiency Act, which essentially makes it illegal for an agency to spend money it doesn\u2019t have. <\/p>\n<p>As a result, Bergeron worries, he said, that the policy could draw legal challenges from student-loan servicers, lenders and other entities involved in the loan process because the cancellation could be viewed as a taking that\u2019s barred under the Constitution. If the policy failed to hold up in court and the debt were ultimately reinstated, Bergeron said he\u2019s concerned borrowers would be harmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are lots of people who could challenge this, [so] it is prudent for the Biden administration to take the time that\u2019s necessary to examine the issue,\u201d he said. \u201cI would argue that the most important thing is to win Georgia, so the Democrats control the Senate and then it\u2019s possible to do it legislatively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden has indicated previously that he\u2019s open to canceling some student debt. During his campaign for president <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@JoeBiden\/joe-biden-outlines-new-steps-to-ease-economic-burden-on-working-people-e3e121037322\" class=\"icon none\">he proposed to<\/a> \u201cimmediately cancel a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person.\u201d Biden reiterated the need to \u201cimmediately\u201d forgive $10,000 in student debt when he introduced Miguel Cardona as his nominee for secretary of education on Wednesday, though Biden framed it as part of a \u201clegislative plan.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of consumer, labor and other groups, said she puts more stock in what Biden campaigned on and has put in writing than in comments made to a columnist.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, \u201cit\u2019s obviously discouraging to hear him express some uncertainty about the legal authority,\u201d said Goldstein, whose organization was part of a group of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ourfinancialsecurity.org\/2020\/11\/sign-on-letter-over-230-orgs-call-on-president-elect-biden-to-cancel-federal-student-debt-on-day-one-using-executive-action\/\" class=\"icon none\">more than 200 organizations<\/a> urging Biden to use his authority to cancel student debt on Day 1 of his administration.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legal authority is very clear,\u201d Goldstein said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s documented.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalia Abrams, the executive director of Student Debt Crisis, an advocacy group, said that, despite Biden\u2019s comments Wednesday, \u201cthe fight is not over\u201d for broad-based student-debt cancellation through executive action. <\/p>\n<p>Indeed, there is some indication that members of the Biden administration find the policy appealing.  Bharat Ramamurti, a longtime Warren aide whom Biden recently named to his National Economic Council, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bharatramamurti\/status\/1328386696296222720\" class=\"icon none\">has called<\/a> student-debt cancellation by executive order \u201cgood economics and good politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s recent comments come in the same week that Congress failed to extend the coronavirus payment pause on student loans as part of its $900 billion stimulus package (which itself was cast into eleventh-hour doubt by Donald Trump). Advocates had said that Congress\u2019s failure to act on the student-loan issue increased the urgency for the Biden administration to act boldly following inauguration.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can feel that borrowers are worried that they\u2019re going to be forgotten again,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cWith the CARES Act, it\u2019s one of the first times borrowers felt included in emergency relief, and we want to make sure that wasn\u2019t just a one-off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>      <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author  hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Jillian Berman\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jillian_Berman\"><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/marketwatch.com\/author\/jillian-berman?mod=MW_author_byline\">Jillian Berman<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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