Resuming student loan payments would force millions of borrowers to choose between paying their loans or putting a roof over their heads, food on the table, or paying for childcare and health care

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ahead of the federal student loan payment pause set to expire at the end of next month, U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), alongside Representatives Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.-14), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.-29), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.-07), today led a bicameral group of 100 colleagues in the Senate and House in urging the Biden Administration to extend the student loan payment pause beyond August 31, 2022. This effort comes on the heels of several news reports that the Biden Administration has not made a final decision about whether to extend the student loan payment pause – a decision that will affect millions of student loan borrowers.

“For over two years, the Department has provided critical flexibility to millions of federal student loan borrowers by pausing payments, as many have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. This much needed pause has helped many borrowers to keep a roof over their heads, secure childcare, and purchase food, health care, and medicine during the course of a pandemic responsible for the deaths of more than 1 million people in the U.S.,” wrote more than 100 lawmakers to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “For the first time, many borrowers have had the opportunity to pay down debt, open a savings account, purchase a home, and save for retirement—none of which would have been possible without the payment pause.”

The lawmakers emphasized how resuming student loan payments would force millions of borrowers to choose between paying their loans or putting a roof over their heads, food on the table, or paying for childcare and health care—while costs continue to rise and while yet another COVID-19 variant increases hospitalizations nationwide.

“Despite significant decreases over the last month, gas prices are still high, and many borrowers still have to pay exorbitant amounts each week in order to commute to their jobs. Food prices remain high, as suppliers contend with ongoing supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine. We still have a significant childcare crisis throughout the country, which has caused already-high costs to spike to 40% of their pre-pandemic levels,” the lawmakers added. “Low-income borrowers, Black and Brown borrowers, and women borrowers still face severe financial hardships as COVID-19 continues to infect individuals throughout the country and exacerbate existing inequities.”

The lawmakers concluded by pointing out how resuming student loan payments at this moment would further complicate administrative actions already underway at the U.S. Department of Education. All federal student loan borrowers are in limbo as they await upcoming actions from the Department of Education or their federal student loan servicer.

Sen. Menendez and his colleagues have long called on the Biden Administration to extend the student loan payment pause and to deliver relief to student borrowers. In April, Sens. Menendez, Booker, Warren, Schumer and several more colleagues also called on the Departments of Education and Justice to follow through on their pledge to improve the handling of student debt bankruptcy claims. Around the same time, many of them joined nearly 100 lawmakers in calling on President Biden to extend the student loan payment pause and to provide meaningful relief to student borrowers. Sen. Menendez authored the Student Loan Tax Relief Act, along with Sen. Warren, which exempts forgiven student loan debt from tax liability through 2026. The lawmakers had this provision successfully included in the American Rescue Plan. In the House of Representatives, Reps. Cárdenas and Pressley have also led efforts asking President Biden to extend the student loan moratorium and to provide all student borrowers further relief.