The Biden administration is moving ahead with a new path to student loan cancellation for Americans who face steep medical bills, child care costs and other types of financial hardship that prevent them from repaying their loans.

Announced Friday, the proposed rule is President Joe Biden’s third attempt at student loan cancellation as he faces repeated legal challenges from Republican states. His first plan was rejected by the Supreme Court last year, and his second plan has been temporarily halted by a federal judge in Missouri.

The new rule would have to clear a number of hurdles before it becomes official, and it’s unclear if it could be realized before Biden leaves office in three months. Like Biden’s other loan forgiveness proposals, it could face court challenges from conservatives who say it’s unconstitutional and unfair.

If finalized, the new rule would allow the Education Department to proactively cancel loans for borrowers if the agency determines they have an 80% chance of being in default on their loans within two years. Others could apply for a review to determine if they meet the criteria for cancellation.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Okay, exactly how many days before an election should a president be prevented from doing anything that might help people?

    Because spending never stops. You’re talking about an election spending cool down period. This is not election spending.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      As I said, 60-90.

      Otherwise I start passing a law to give $1000 to everyone, and time it so it passes just after the election, and if I lose then nobody gets anything.

      This is like Reagan telling Iran to hold the hostages till after the election, and Nixon and Vietnam.

      Nobody is really trying to do meaningful legislation before the election anyway, they’re focusing on campaigning, so it doesn’t matter much that way either.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        You can’t possibly be saying Nixon shouldn’t have taken the U.S. out of Vietnam for the wrong reason or that he should have waited to do so and let more people die because otherwise the election wasn’t fair. Can you?