NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden moved to discharge federal student loans for more than 150,000 people on Monday, in a final push that will bring the total number of borrowers who received loan forgiveness under his administration to over 5 million people.
The Education Department is canceling debt for individuals who were cheated or defrauded by their institutions, people with severe disabilities, or public servants, said a press release.
"Easing the burden of student loan debt was one of Biden's signature campaign promises in the 2020 election, but his efforts to carry out that pledge were hit by legal obstacles, most notably the Supreme Court blocking a plan that would have slashed up to 20,000 U.S. dollars in debt for over 40 million people," reported Bloomberg News on the development.
Biden subsequently moved to adopt less ambitious, more piecemeal efforts to ease loan debt. Those efforts still saw the administration forgive 183.6 billion dollars for over 5 million people through changes to existing federal debt management offerings.
