Putting perhaps the final nail in the moratorium on student loan payments is a clause in the deal worked out between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the debt ceiling that ends the pause within 60 days after June 30 once the bill is signed into law.
The measure seems more symbolic than anything else, though, because the Biden Administration had already announced that the pause would end either on June 30 if all the legal challenges surrounding a proposal to forgive up to $20,000 of student loan debt were resolved, or 60 days after that if the litigation had not been resolved.
Student loan debt payments have been on hold for more than three years since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. The pause has been extended a number of times, first by former President Donald Trump and then by President Biden. During the pause, the Biden Administration announced its plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 annually — a plan that is currently before the Supreme Court.
“The pause is gone within 60 days of this being signed,” Rep. McCarthy said on Fox News this weekend. “So that is another victory because that brings in $5 billion each month to the American public.”
The actual text of the clause in the debt ceiling bill related to the student loan moratorium can be seen here:
The end of the student loan moratorium was one of a number of different provisions included in the debt ceiling bill, which included tightening restrictions for SNAP food assistance programs, taking back billions of dollars in unspent COVID relief funds, and cutting some of the $80 billion that has been earmarked for improvements at the Internal Revenue Service.
