A former Obama administration economic adviser slammed President Joe Biden’s continued student debt repayment pause.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced it would extend the federal student loan repayment pause until August 31. The pause was set to expire on May 1, however, Biden has faced pressure from progressives to once again order an extension. This prompted former National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers to criticize Biden’s choice to punt the decision once more.
The Daily Wire reports:
“The Administration’s postponement yet again of student debt payments is very hard to understand on policy terms,” Summers said on Twitter. “Wherever one stands on student debt relief this approach is regressive, uncertainty creating, untargeted and inappropriate at a time when the economy is overheated.”
“This is not a small macroeconomic thing,” he continued. “At a time when the economy is overheating… student debt action will be injecting money into the economy at a 100billion a year annual rate. This is a macroeconomic step in the wrong direction.”
In the past, Biden has faced pressure from top progressive lobbies — including the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, and the NAACP — to lengthen the pause on federal student loan repayments. In December, 200 such groups called on Biden to extend the pause and cancel student debt altogether.
“You ran for president on the promise that you would reform the student loan system to ensure that student loan payments would be affordable for all. Your administration’s decision to extend the payment pause… are critical and welcome first steps,” they argued. “Right now, your administration has the opportunity to continue repairing the damage caused by policy failures at the federal and state level and decades of government mismanagement and industry abuses — an opportunity and an obligation that must be fulfilled before any action is taken to resume monthly student loan payments.”
Progressive lawmakers have pushed for Biden to cancel student loan debt since he announced his campaign.
