Statement by Vice President Harris on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Nebraska v. Biden

All Americans deserve the opportunity to pursue a college education without the burden of crushing student loan debt. That is why our Administration took action to provide a lifeline to tens of millions of borrowers. Nearly 90% of the people who would have benefitted make less than $75,000 per year. At every turn, Republican officials at the state level and in Congress tried to block our plan. Today, the Supreme Court sided with them. 
 
Reducing student loan debt and securing relief for families has been a priority throughout my career and a pillar of our Administration. As California Attorney General, I took on predatory for-profit colleges and won $1 billion for defrauded veterans and other students. President Biden and I fought to secure the largest increases to Pell Grants in a decade. And our Administration’s income driven repayment plan will cut undergraduate loan payments in half by capping monthly payments at five percent of income.  
 
President Biden and I are committed to delivering the relief student debt borrowers need to recover from the pandemic and move forward with their lives. As the President announced, we are moving quickly to create an alternative path to provide relief through the Higher Education Act.  In the short-term, borrowers struggling to make their payments will be protected from impacts on their credit for 12 months. And we are launching our new income-based repayment program, which will cut monthly payments in half for undergraduate borrowers.  
 
Our Administration will continue to fight to make sure Americans can access the life-changing opportunities of postsecondary education without assuming life-altering amounts of student loan debt. 

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