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California Democratic Representative Nanette Barragan told CNN on Tuesday that Biden and Democrats had discussed the scope of such a plan — including whether it would include public and private institutions — but the White House did not commit to or set a timeframe for taking such a step.
Her comments on the debate come amid reports that Biden strongly indicated during the meeting that he would take action on the issue through the executive branch. Barragan said the report that Biden conveyed a decision at the CHC meeting “was news to me.”
Representative Tony Cardenas, a California Democrat who also attended Monday’s meeting, said he raised the issue of extending the payment freeze through the end of the year and offering $10,000 or more in student loan forgiveness to all US borrowers through an executive order.
In an interview with MSNBC, Cardenas said that when he brought both issues to the attention of the president, Biden told him he would be “happy” with the moves his administration was working on.
As Biden’s tenure dragged on, he faced increasing pressure to offer widespread student loan forgiveness. Some key Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have called on Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for each borrower.
The White House has long indicated that the president will support Congress’ action to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers, but Biden hasn’t made clear whether he would use executive powers to provide this collective debt relief immediately. But Congress, where Democrats have a slim margin, is unlikely to have the votes to pass large-scale debt-repealing legislation.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Biden will make a decision on whether to take further action on student loan forgiveness “before there is an end to this pause.”
“At the moment, it has been extended until August… He is looking at other options for his executive branch to provide relief to people who have student loans. So, this is what he conveyed during the meeting yesterday,” she added.
“He’s continuing to look into the matter,” Psaki said, after being pressured into whether the president would consider using executive power.
The Biden administration has already moved to provide other forms of relief to student borrowers.
CNN’s Katie Lubosco, Donald Judd, and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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