Memo from the U.S. Department of Education says president does not have the authority to forgive federal student loans without law from Congress.
1/13/2021 14:00
One of the first items on the agenda for President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team is extending the moratorium on student loan payments, interest and collections activity as well as student loan forgiveness, but lawyers from the Trump administration argue that is illegal, Forbes reports.
The moratorium on student loans is in effect through the end of January and Biden is proposing $10,000 in federal student loan forgiveness per borrower, possibly as part of another stimulus package.
According to Forbes, lawyers from the U.S. Department of Education, where Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned this month, issued a memo stating Congress needs to pass a law on federal student loan forgiveness.
“If Biden is unwilling or unable to use executive power to forgive federal student loans, he still has a path to student loan forgiveness through Congress that has become much more tenable after two Democratic victories in runoff elections in Georgia handed that party control of the Senate,” according to the article.