- Sen. Menendez led Democratic colleagues in pushing Biden to extend the PSLF waiver through July 2023.
- The waiver, which expands eligibility for loan forgiveness, is currently set to end on October 31.
- The Education Department continues to communicate the October deadline.
Amid a consequential time for millions of federal student loan borrowers, over 100 Democratic lawmakers say President Joe Biden should not allow critical relief for public servants to lapse.
On Tuesday, 117 Democratic lawmakers led by Sens. Bob Menendez, Patty Murray, Tim Kaine, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Reps. John Sarbanes, Joe Courtney, Jahana Hayes, and Kathy Manning wrote a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to extend the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver through July 2023. PSLF is intended to forgive student debt for public servants after ten years of qualifying payments, but following flaws within the program that blocked borrowers from relief they deserve, the Education Department in October announced reforms to the program.
Part of the reforms included a waiver through October 31, 2022 that would allow any past payments, included those previously deemed ineligible, to count toward loan forgiveness progress, but the lawmakers said that's not enough time for all potentially eligible borrowers to make use of the relief.
"Since the deadline of October 31, 2022 to qualify for PSLF under the waiver program is rapidly approaching, we ask that the Department extend this deadline in order to ensure that all public servants with federal student loans are able to benefit from this historic waiver," the lawmakers wrote.
They also requested the department "increase its outreach to public servants and borrowers to ensure that they are aware of the waiver and understand eligibility requirements, and correct any misinformation about the waiver being communicated by student loan servicers."
The letter received support from over 70 organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers, the NAACP, and Communication Workers of America Union.
The department has not publicly indicated it's planning to extend the waiver. While Federal Student Aid Director Richard Cordray said in June that he was worried some eligible borrowers might not have time to access the relief and is "pushing hard to get approval if we can get it extended," the department has continued communicating the October 31 deadline through social media.
The waiver so far has given 145,000 borrowers $8.1 billion in relief, but Tuesday's letter is just the latest of Democrats' efforts to push Biden to go even further. In July, Menendez and Rep. Donald Norcross introduced legislation that would aim to permanently reform PSLF by codifying the temporary reforms the department announced last year. And advocates have also joined the push in extending the waiver to ensure all borrowers have ample time to access its benefits.
"Let's be clear, everyone who received the debt relief was promised it," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. "This waiver was a critical step toward healing a broken student loan system that has pauperized a generation. We need to take it one step further and extend it. The people who are benefiting from this moment of relief are the same people who carried us through a pandemic—we need to honor their commitment and extend the deadline for the PSLF waiver."
In the meantime, borrowers are also waiting for Biden to make a decision on two major policies: an extension of the student-loan payment pause, set to expire on August 31, and broad student-loan forgiveness — announcements that could come this week.