President Biden announced Thursday that $5.8 billion in student loans would be "canceled" for 78,000 borrowers working in the public sector, bringing his administration's total student debt write-offs to $143.6 billion. Biden pledged to find other avenues for tackling debt relief last year after the Supreme Court in June blocked his broader plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt, deeming it unconstitutional.
The latest plan comes as Biden seeks re-election in November and as the national debt has already shot past $34.5 trillion. By comparison, just four decades ago, the national debt hovered around $907 billion. Thursday's announcement will see public service employees such as teachers, nurses and firefighters have their debt written off under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program , an initiative created in 2007 and signed into law by President George W.