Roughly 40 million borrowers of federal student loans will soon need to start paying their bills again, under a deal reached by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to bring temporary relief to the recurring debt ceiling crisis.
The 99-page-long legislative package (pdf), which McCarthy expects to pass a full vote in the Republican-led House this Wednesday before heading to Democrat-majority Senate, would allow the federal government to borrow more money to operate while also avoiding a default on its old debts.
As part of the deal, the federal government would resume the collection of student loan payments and interest, which has been halted for three years. The pause was first ordered by President Donald Trump in March 2020 as a way to ease financial pressure on Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has since been extended nine times under both Trump and Biden administrations….