Student Loan Forgiveness Extended But Unlikely to Become Permanent

It’s not in the 2022 Biden administration budget at this point. It’s not in the $1.85 Trillion+ reconciliation social infrastructure bill text revealed on Oct.28, nor in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in the Senate. Nearly 43 million people collectively owe $1.59 trillion in student debt, according to data from the office of Federal Student Aid in the Department of Education.  But while millions of student debt holders have not been required to make payments since March 2020, that almost two-year relief is now expected to end on February 1 after the Biden Administration extended the deadline from September 30, 2021 to January 31, 2022.  Biden has characterized the most recent extension as the “final” one, according to student loan expert Adam Minsky. Advocates for broad student loan forgiveness have continually lobbied for, demanded and hung out the hope that Biden will issue an executive order forgiving up to $50,000 for each borrower.  But the President himself has publicly stated he doesn’t think he has the authority to do that  -- which is probably true since executive orders, memos and the like are issued by the President on how his executive branch should implement (or not) existing budget items, not create a broad budget for something that isn’t in a passed bill. Besides, as Jan Miller, president of Miller Student Loan Consulting pointed out in an email to Nerdwallet: "Biden hasn't been very keen on forgiveness from the start, so I suspect the chances are low."

Elections 2022? It Could Be All About Education, Señores

Election season 2022 started out in October 2021 with a sudden shift of focus. Just days before the Virginia election for governor Nov. 2, a new issue was driving the polls: not infrastructure, not Afghanistan, not even Trump… but EDUCATION. By press time on Oct. 29, Republican Glenn Youngkin was leading the polls by 8 points over former Virginia Governor and Democratic leader Terry McAuliffe. The most contentious issue was education: specifically parental involvement in their students’ safety at school, and parental input in curriculum issues. In a panel McAuliffe stated that parents did not have the right to be involved in those issues, while Youngkin stuck to a policy of parental rights to choose.

In fact, there seem to be many school issues that split Democrats from Republicans. These include issues like school choice, government vouchers for private charter schools including faith-based ones and bilingual ones, mandates or family choice about masking and vaccines, and opportunities for remote learning and access to technology, tutors and flexible governance. Many conservatives push back against signs of over-regulation in schools, especially by state and regional school boards and teachers’ unions. Even the U.S. Department of Justice is involved in a controversy over how much a parent can complain about a school policy or incident at a public meeting without being branded, even arrested, as a terrorist.

In higher education, contentious issues also seem to hit Hispanic heritage families hard. Legislation for free community college nationwide has died as many elite political leaders seem to favor the idea that everyone should attend a four-year college instead of two-year colleges and for-profit short-term certificate and vocational schools. The 2022 election could find that education issues have more tripping points between liberal Democrats and Hispanics than almost any other issue.

About U.S. Citizenship – Who Gets It? Who Grants It?

On Sunday Oct 24, one had to wonder if the some 50 immigration activists who gathered in front of the U.S. Vice President’s mansion on a beautiful warm fall day in Washington DC waving signs and chanting: “We demand citizenship for all”, know that VP Kamala Harris has absolutely no power to grant anyone citizenship. Neither does President Biden for that matter. Only Congress has that power. It’s stated in one sentence in Article One, Section 8 of the U.S. constitution: Congress is “to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization”.

That ultimately meant legislation. But from 1786 and through the next century or so, the U.S. Congress punted the ball to the States. They let each state decide which non-citizens living in their jurisdictions would be allowed to take the oath of naturalization (the same oath that is used today). After the 1880s and the civil war that saw many state responsibilities revert to the federal government, citizenship requirements became embedded in evolving national immigration laws.

Today a non-citizen who wants to become a U.S. citizen – an American - must do two things: First, they must reside in the United States for at least five years (with some exceptions) under a Permanent Legal Resident permit – aka a green card. Then if they are eligible, they can start the application process if they want to.

The green card is key. It is the “path to citizenship”. No one can apply for citizenship from a temporary legal permit – work, study, visitor, etc. – nor, especially, if they are living in the country illegally. Congress would have to change the laws or offer a special one-time amnesty (as they did in 1986) for those. That’s why most advocates reject “legalization” for unauthorized residents -- a parole or temporary protected status (asylee), or other temporary permit. The demonstrating immigration activists want a way that millions of illegal (aka: undocumented) immigrants in the country can get a permanent green or immigration card immediately and not have to go through the lengthy legal procedure everyone else must go through.

But here’s the other requirement that may be harder to overcome by activists. The green card holder must CHOOSE TO APPLY for citizenship once eligible. It is never automatic nor required. Permanent resident permit holders never have to apply for citizenship in order to stay in the country their whole lives, with almost all the rights of citizens except the right to vote. In fact, the majority of green card holders wait ten years or more to apply and many never do.

Becoming a citizen in the US is a relatively easy process compared to other countries. Indeed, the US is unique in that we welcome immigrants, even expect them to have dreamed all their lives of becoming a loyal American. But even former Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), an avid voice for permanent legal residence for all immigrants, said “Most of the undocumented immigrants who get green cards will never become citizens”.