President Joe Biden is considering limiting his program to relieve student debt to Americans earning less than $125,000, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Biden said last week he would soon take executive action to forgive some student debt. White House officials have previously said the plan would relieve at least $10,000 of debt per borrower, and that they expected the program would include income restrictions.
Psaki offered $125,000 as a possible threshold in a briefing for reporters traveling with the president to a weapons plant in Alabama.
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The president has been prodded by progressives including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren to forgive at least $50,000 per borrower, but Biden has said he won’t relieve that much debt by executive action. He proposed eliminating $10,000 per borrower during his presidential campaign.
The Biden administration has repeatedly extended a temporary freeze on student debt payments enacted shortly after the pandemic began in 2020.
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White House aides have said the president hoped Congress would take legislative action on student debt relief, and that his team has been divided on the merits of broad forgiveness. Some deficit hawks have expressed concern that broad relief would worsen inflation already weighing heavily on Democrats’ political fortunes in November’s midterm elections.
