Biden could cancel student debt for up to 10 million more Americans before Election Day

A new White House proposal could cancel debt for millions of additional borrowers, potentially before the November election.

President Joe Biden — who ran on providing student debt relief — saw his policy of cancelling up to $20,000 in federal loan debt per borrower struck down the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in 2022. That's forced his administration to take a multi-pronged approach to relieve student debtors' burdens in other ways. According to CNBC, the Biden administration is now using an approach dubbed "Plan B" that would open up as many as 10 million more Americans to debt forgiveness by proving "financial hardship."

That may be due to pressure from Democrats for the president to ramp up efforts to double down on efforts to cancel federal student debt, which remains a large expense for roughly 43 million Americans. The White House has been conducting rule-making sessions in which new standards have been established for borrowers to qualify for debt relief, while trying to stay within the bounds of SCOTUS' prior ruling.

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In a January 24 letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) urged the agency to do more to help low-income borrowers.

"We are concerned that, without full consideration of cancellation targeted toward borrowers facing financial hardship, the rule will not provide adequate debt relief for the most vulnerable borrowers," Warren wrote.

Warren's letter comes weeks before the next such rule-making session, which will take place on February 22 and 23 and will focus exclusively on providing relief to borrowers struggling with financial hardship.

Student debt remains a significant issue for many younger voters, particularly since the Biden administration ended the Covid-19 federal emergency, and with it the emergency pause on student debt payments last October. This has resulted in millions of people having to budget around a significant new monthly expense they hadn't had to plan for since 2020.

READ MORE: 'Outrageous': Education Secretary blasts House Republicans who benefited from student debt relief