Earlier this week, Senator Reverend Warnock joined his Senate Colleagues in asking the Department of Education for details about its plans to implement its “fresh start” plan for student loan borrowers in default before loan payments resume after August 31, 2022

Earlier this month, Senator Warnock successfully pushed the Department of Education to erase the defaults of all borrowers covered by the pandemic-related pause

Following Senator Reverend Warnock’s push for the White House to extend the waiver on federal student loan debt, President Biden announced that the Administration would extend the pause on federal student loan payments

Senator Reverend Warnock: “I was happy to see the Administration heed my call to erase the defaults of all borrowers covered by the pandemic-related pause. This pause will bring relief to countless Georgians, which is why I’m asking the Department of Education to efficiently explain how it plans to implement its “fresh start” plan to student loan borrowers”

ICYMI: Senator Raphael Warnock joins the Big Tigger Morning Show after President Joe Biden announces the delay of student loan payments until August 2022

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and his Senate Colleagues in asking the Department of Education for details about its plans to implement its “fresh start” plan for student loan borrowers in default before loan payments resume after August 31, 2022. Their letter follows the Department of Education’s recent announcement of the extension of the student loan payment pause through August 2022 and its plan to provide a “fresh start” to borrowers in default by eliminating the impact of delinquency and default and allowing these borrowers to enter repayment in good standing.

“I was happy to see the Administration heed my call to erase the defaults of all borrowers covered by the pandemic-related pause,”said Senator Reverend Warnock. “This pause will bring relief to countless Georgians, which is why I’m asking the Department of Education to efficiently explain how it plans to implement its “fresh start” plan to student loan borrowers.”

In April 2021, Senators Warnock and Warren (D-MA) led a group of Senate colleagues in a letter urging the Department of Education to take swift action to automatically remove all federally-held student loan borrowers from default.

“More than 7 million federal student loan borrowers are currently in default on their federal student loans. A disproportionate number of these borrowers are low income, people of color, first generation college students, veterans, student parents, students with disabilities, and people who did not complete college. Removing these borrowers from default when student loan payments and collections resume means that millions will not be immediately subject to wage garnishment, tax refund withholding, and aggressive collections practices that threaten to undermine their economic security. It also makes these borrowers eligible to enroll in Income-Driven Repayment plans,” wrote the senators.

Senator Warnock has been a vocal advocate for addressing burdensome student loan debt, successfully pushing the Administration in December to extend a deferment for student loan borrowers as the nation continues to recover from the pressures of the pandemic. In addition to Senators Warnock and Warren, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were also signatories on the letter.

The letter can be found here.

###