Biden will try again to wipe out student loan debt for millions

President Joe Biden will announce a new effort Monday to reduce or eliminate student loan debt for millions of borrowers, an election-year attempt to revive his goal of providing large-scale relief for Americans struggling to pay off their college loans, a person familiar with the plan said Friday.

Biden is expected to preview new regulations by the Education Department targeting millions of borrowers, including those whose loans have ballooned because of accrued interest and others who can demonstrate financial hardship impeding repayment, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the regulations have not yet been formally proposed by the department.

The proposed regulations are set to be published over the next few weeks. Biden will speak about the effort during a visit to Wisconsin on Monday, which will coincide with an event on student loans with Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

The push is a recognition by Biden and his allies of the disappointment felt by his supporters — especially young voters — when the president's first attempt to wipe out student debt was blocked by the Supreme Court last summer. The court said that the government exceeded its authority under federal law when it attempted to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans. Since then, the Biden administration has used existing laws to provide debt relief to smaller pockets of borrowers. Monday's announcement is expected to eventually reach a larger group, although officials said it would still be more targeted than the across-the-board relief that the Supreme Court already struck down.

Once the proposed regulations are officially published in the Federal Register, it will still be months before they can go into effect because of a required public comment period. Biden administration officials expect that the new rules are likely to be challenged in court, which could further delay any reductions in debt.

Officials have said they believe the new proposed regulations would be more likely to survive legal challenges because they are based on a different federal law.