Dem
51
GOP
49
As noted above, Mitch McConnell is urging Joe Biden to use XOs to solve the immigration problem, which is clearly impossible since it requires legislation and a large amount of money. But Biden does like working around Congress when he can. One area he likes is canceling student loans. One of the gripes some young voters have is that Biden said he would cancel student loans and wasn't able to do so unilaterally because the Supreme Court said he didn't have the authority to do so. But the voters blame Biden, not the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, Biden keeps trying to do what he can using existing legislation. Yesterday, the administration announced that it will erase an additional $7.7 billion in federal student loans. In all, Biden has erased $167 billion in student debt for 5 million former students. That is a small fraction of the total, but every vote is welcome.
The new relief goes to 54,000 borrowers who enrolled in Biden's income-driven repayment program, 39,000 who enrolled in earlier programs, and 67,000 who are eligible because they worked in public service jobs. Biden's new plan allows some borrowers to get their loans canceled after having made payments for 10 years. Every month Biden announces another batch of cancellations.
Conservatives oppose the relief. They say it represents an unfair bonus for college graduates at the expense of taxpayers who didn't go to college or former college students who have already repaid their loans. They have challenged all of Biden's relief plans in court and some cases are ongoing. (V)