The White House says it doesn’t have a backup plan to cancel student debt right now if the Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s broad relief

Insider

Ayelet Sheffey

January 27, 2023

• A White House official told reporters that Biden is not “deliberating or considering” a backup plan to cancel student debt.

• This comes as the Supreme Court is taking up two lawsuits next month that are currently blocking Biden’s broad relief.

• The White House maintains confidence in its authority, but advocates have argued there’s another route.

The White House is so confident in President Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan that it isn’t weighing a backup right now if the nation’s highest court strikes it down.

On Friday, the White House released new data showing how many borrowers applied for Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt before two conservative-backed lawsuits halted the process. In total, 26,260,000 borrowers submitted applications for the relief before the online form closed in October, and 16,486,000 of those applications were fully approved and sent to student-loan companies to discharge those borrowers’ debt.

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