Amid questions about why President Joe Biden has failed to act on student loan forgiveness, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke out Wednesday on how the White House does not have the power to do so. .
“The president can’t do it,” Pelosi said at a news conference.
“Not everyone realizes that, but the president can only postpone, delay, but not forgive.”
>> @SpeakerPelosi says that Biden * doesn’t * have the power to write off student loan debt, as some Democrats, led by @SenSchumer, urge him to do so.
“That has to be an act of Congress,” says Pelosi.pic.twitter.com/2V7ALDDG3y
Pelosi says any student loan forgiveness would have to be instructed by Congress. The comments contradict Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said this week that Biden can make such a move without Congress.
“All you need is the movement of a pen,” Schumer said on Twitter.
President Biden with the flick of a pen can #CancelStudentDebt.
This would help millions of young Americans who have been crushed by student debt, including so many New Yorkers and veterans, to overcome this pandemic.
I will continue to work with @SenWarren to make this happen pic.twitter.com/kMk2J8TNx5
Congress can cancel student debt, but both parties should vote on the legislation. Republican lawmakers are not in favor of student loan forgiveness.
Biden has asked the Department of Justice and the Department of Education to review their authority to discharge student debt.
There is hope that student forgiveness will be added as a bill in the budget reconciliation process in the coming months, but it has already been omitted when considering the budget at other times this year.
“Student loan debt in the United States is $ 1.73 trillion and is growing 6 times faster than the nation’s economy. 43.2 million student borrowers are in debt for an average of $ 39,351 each, ”according to EducationData.org.
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