Cardona told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that an announcement was imminent, but declined to share other details. “We know that August 31 is a date that a lot of people are waiting to hear from,” the secretary said. “We talk about it every day and I can tell you the American people will hear it within the next week or so.” Last week, Cardona teased that a similar announcement was coming soon. It is not yet known if the administration will extend the freeze on student loan payments and accrued interest, or if the Department of Education will also announce a more permanent solution, such as writing off some debt for every borrower. The Biden administration has faced pressure from some Democratic lawmakers to cancel up to $50,000 in debt per borrower. The president has championed debt forgiveness of up to $10,000, but no official announcement has been made to write off the debt. The Department of Education has already taken steps to forgive an estimated $1.7 trillion in student loan debt for 45 million Americans. Stelter defends media criticism, ‘picking treasure from trash’ on latest CNN show Birx says early pandemic warnings came from Europe: ‘That alone should be an indictment of our system’ . The Biden administration has cleared $32 billion in student loan relief for more than 1.6 million borrowers, mostly students who were defrauded or misled by schools or through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PLSF) program, which forgives debt for those who work in government or other qualifying jobs. Cardona on Sunday said the PSLF program has forgiven more than $10 billion to borrowers to date under the Biden administration. “Public service loan forgiveness is ruined,” he said. “We fixed it so our teachers, our nurses, get loan forgiveness right away.”
