In a Friday statement, the White House announced that the Biden administration had approved an additional $5 Billion in debt cancellation for approximately 74,000 student loan holders.

Biden stated that many of those impacted by the latest loan forgiveness are teachers and firefighters who have served in public service for at least 10 years. Biden stated that nearly 30,000 of the borrowers affected have been paying back their student loans for at least twenty years, but never received the relief they earned under income-driven repayment programs.

According to the Department of Education, the latest round of debt cancellation brings the total amount of debts cancelled under Biden up to $136.6 Billion for more than 3 million Americans. The U.S. Supreme Court had previously blocked Biden’s first student loan giveaway last year. It would have cost over $400 billion.

Biden stated, “From the first day of my administration, I pledged to improve student loan systems so that higher education can provide Americans with opportunities and prosperity — rather than unmanageable student loan debt.” “I will not back down from utilizing every tool available to us to help student loan borrowers achieve their dreams.”

The Biden administration has made adjustments to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness Programs.

The Biden-Harris Administration worked tirelessly to fix the broken student loan system in our country and eliminate the unnecessary hurdles and administrative errors that prevented borrowers in the past from receiving the student debt relief they deserved,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stated in a press release.

The nearly $5 billion additional debt relief announced will be given to teachers, social work professionals, and other public service workers whose service in our communities has earned them Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It will also go to borrowers who qualify for income-driven forgiveness of repayment because for the first time their payments have been accurately accounted.

The announcement made on Friday follows the action Biden took last week to help student loan borrowers who are enrolled in SAVE (Savings on Valuable Education) plan. Borrowers who are enrolled in SAVE and took out loans less than $12,000. They have to be in repayment for at least 10 years.

According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, SAVE’s net cost will be $475 billion for the 10-year budget period.

Biden approved a further $4.8 billion of student debt cancellation for over 80,000 borrowers in December.

Republicans have criticised Biden’s student loan handouts. They argue that the taxpayers will end up paying for the president’s contribution to the national debt of $34 trillion.

“President Biden’s downright desperate to get votes before the elections — so much that he gives the Department of Education the green light to pour even more kerosene onto an already raging fire of student debt,” said House Education Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) in a release released last week after the Biden Administration announced its SAVE plan.

It would not surprise anyone if the Department relied solely on children playing with abacuses in order to balance its budget — this is a total and utter catastrophe. Foxx stated that it’s obvious the Biden administration is in need of a dose of fiscal commonsense. “All they know how to do, as Foxx put it, is spend like drunken sailors.”