Pause on student loans again extended

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will extend the pause on federal student loan payments while the White House fights a legal battle to save his plan to cancel portions of the debt.

“It isn’t fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. “I’m confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. But it’s on hold because Republican officials want to block it.”

The decision followed a ruling earlier this month from a federal judge in Texas finding the plan unlawful. The Department of Education has stopped accepting applications for loan forgiveness, thrusting millions of Americans into financial limbo.

The freeze on student loan repayments, first adopted in March 2020 under President Donald Trump, was extended multiple times by Biden.

The moratorium was slated to expire Jan. 1, a date that Biden set before his debt cancellation plan stalled in the face of legal challenges from conservative opponents.

Now it will extend until 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved. If the lawsuit has not been resolved by June 30, payments would resume 60 days after that.

The Justice Department last week asked the Supreme Court to examine the issue and reinstate Biden’s debt cancellation plan.