After Leading Letter to President Biden, Courtney Catches Up with Secretary Miguel Cardona on Extending the Pause on Student Loan Payments
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, during a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) spoke with U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Miguel Cardona about one of the most pressing issues facing American student loan borrowers today—the looming October 1st closure of the COVID-19 student loan forbearance period. Courtney is among a small group of elected officials leading the push for an extension of the student loan forbearance period, as reported on yesterday by NBC News.
The CARES Act paused payments for millions of student loan borrowers during COVID-19, and President Biden extended the pause through September 30, 2021. During the pause, ED has provided approximately $72 billion in relief on student loan interest alone—money that has been reinvested into the economy, and used by Americans to pay down debt, relieve financial pressures from lost jobs or decreased earnings, and more. Today, Courtney reiterated that one of President Biden's first Executive Orders was to extend the pause student loan payments to September 30th, but that "the cliff is fast approaching".
Yesterday, Rep. Courtney led a letter to President Biden with Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (NY), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), urging a further extension of the forbearance period until at least March 31, 2022. Courtney asked Secretary Cardona to discuss the Department's efforts to extend the pause on federal student loan payments and protect student borrowers—watch the full conversation below, and click here to read the letter to President Biden.
"We recognize the impact that the pandemic had on our borrowers," said Secretary Cardona, in response to Rep. Courtney, "and extending the pause is something that we have had conversations about. We recognize the challenge that it is. To date, the pause has saved over $5 billion for borrowers a month—41 million borrowers. Just yesterday, I spoke to a young doctor who said that the pause helped him make a decision to open up a business, and he credited the pause as part of the reason why he was able to do that. So, I recognize that. We are continuing conversations regularly. […] We do plan on having information soon to communicate."
Rep. Courtney is a senior member of the House Education and Labor Committee, and has been a leader on lowering the cost of higher education for years. He has also pressed for an extension of the COVID-19 student loan payment moratorium since the start of the 117th Congress. On January 21, he introduced the COVID-19 Student Loan Relief Extension Act (H.R. 394)—a bill that would not only extend the COVID-19 student loan forbearance, but would also expand coverage to borrowers who were excluded from support by the Trump Administration, and would provide them with retroactive support.
On May 7, Rep. Courtney introduced the Zero-Percent Student Loan Refinancing Act (H.R. 3024). This bill would allow Americans with public student loans to refinance to an interest rate of 0% until December 31, 2024, giving them the same opportunity to take advantage of the current low-rate environment that so many borrowers in other sectors of the economy have utilized.
On May 25, Courtney introduced the Recognizing Military Service in PSLF Act (H.R. 3486), a new bipartisan bill that would finally enable American service members to count the full length of their service towards their student loan forgiveness.
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