President Joe Biden on Wednesday reversed last week’s reported decision to resume student loan payments on February 1 after receiving overwhelming pressure from the far-left.
Despite Biden’s promise to shut down the coronavirus, Biden cited the chaotic omicron variant as the reason for extending the repayment pause for 90 days.
“We know that millions of student loan borrowers are still coping with the impacts of the pandemic and need some more time before resuming payments,” the White House’s statement read.
“Given these considerations, today my Administration is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments for an additional 90 days — through May 1, 2022 — as we manage the ongoing pandemic and further strengthen our economic recovery,” Biden said, admitting omicron has defied his ability to “shut down the virus.”
Breitbart News reported Monday Biden came under heavy fire from members of its own party to extend the debt payments.
Congressional members such as Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slammed the president for not giving “relief to people who are getting crushed.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed that Biden could do more with his executive authority.
“He has been delaying and underutilizing it so far. There is an enormous amount he can do on climate, student debt, immigration, cannabis, health care, and more,” she said.
AOC (Getty Images/Win McNamee)
Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) also demanded Biden to just use his pen to cancel student loan debt.
“Today would be a perfect day for @POTUS to cancel at least $50,000 of student loan debt per borrower – before crushing payments restart in 44 days. All it takes is a signature,” Jayapal said.
As of last week, an estimated 41 million borrowers have benefitted from student loan debt suspension.
In total, “student loan borrowers will have received $110 billion of student loan cancellation from 22 months of temporary student loan forbearance,” Forbes reported.
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