US President Biden announces $9 billion more in student debt relief
Joe Biden.
United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday (Oct 4) announced that his administration approved an additional $9 billion in student debt relief for 125,000 borrowers. President Biden said that this additional approval brought the total approved debt cancellation by his administration to $127 billion for nearly 3.6 million American citizens. "This kind of relief is life-changing for individuals and their families. But it's good for our economy as a whole as well," Biden said.
"Next, we fixed what's called the income-driven repayment program. Here's how that works. If you have an undergraduate loan, after 20 years of straight pay, not missing paying a debt on a monthly basis, whatever's left of your loan is forgiven after 20 years. But because of administrative failures, some people who did pay their loans for 20 years or more did not get the debt relief they'd earned. We fixed that and made sure borrowers got credit for every single payment they made," he added.
Biden also said that his administration was doing everything it could to deliver student debt relief "to as many as we can as fast as we can."
Biden admits worry about aid for war-torn Ukraine
On Wednesday, President Biden also said that he was worried that the ongoing political turmoil in the US could threaten Washington's aid to war-torn Ukraine. He urged Republicans to stop their infighting and back "critically important" assistance for Kyiv.
"It does worry me," Biden told reporters when asked whether the ousting of Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy by hardliners in his own party could derail more funds for Ukraine's war effort.
"But I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate of both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine," he added.
The president also said he would soon be giving a major speech on the need to support Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion. He declined to comment on when he would make the speech.
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