Pelosi: President Biden Does Not Have Power To Cancel Student Loan Debt -- What It Means For Borrowers

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : Yesterday, Pelosi's counterpart in the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), held a press conference along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), urging President Biden to cancel $50,000 or more in student loan debt. "
49% : Did The Biden Administration Just Send A Big Signal On Student Loan Cancellation?
47% : The President can remove this sword, and can remove this pain, by cancelling $50,000 or more in student loan debt," she said.
46% : In April, Biden ordered his administration to conduct a legal review of statutory authorities for student loan cancellation.
44% : She characterized student loan debt as "policy violence" against Black and Brown borrowers, who have taken on higher levels of student debt as compared to their White peers due to the racial wealth gap. "
43% : Both former President Trump and President Biden relied on the HEROES Act for authority to use executive action to suspend billions of dollars in student loan interest after the original CARES Act moratorium expired.
42% : Student Loan Cancellation Debate Continues Amidst Servicer Disruptions
39% : In contrast, Rep. Pressley yesterday argued that cancelling student loans is a matter of racial justice.
39% : Biden has cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars in student loan debt for borrowers defrauded by certain for-profit schools, although this is a tiny fraction of total outstanding student loan debt.
37% : Warren, in her own remarks, compared student loan debt to a "sword" hanging over the heads of borrowers, and argued that President Biden has the legal authority to unilaterally enact broad student loan forgiveness.
34% : Biden made promises to cancel student loan debt during his presidential campaign, but has so far favored a more limited approach to student loan forgiveness.
29% : President Biden should use his existing legal authority to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt," Schumer said in remarks, contradicting Pelosi's subsequent comments.
28% : Pelosi's comments are sure to cause controversy, as other leading Democrats in Congress continue to push for broad cancellation of student loan debt.
28% : Contradicting Pelosi's arguments, several leading student loan legal experts have made the case that President Biden does in fact have broad authority to cancel student debt using executive action, without requiring Congressional involvement.
27% : Department of Education officials under former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos disagreed with these conclusions, however, arguing that widespread cancellation of student loans is beyond the President's statutory authority under both the HEA and the HEROES Act.
20% : In her remarks today, Pelosi also questioned whether student loan cancellation was even prudent, arguing that taxpayers may not necessarily want their tax dollars utilized to cancel someone else's debt, suggesting that she may not even support mass student loan forgiveness in a Congressional bill, should Biden not act using his executive authority.
16% : In explosive comments today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters that President Biden does not have authority to cancel student loan debt.

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