Biden pretty much had to do something with this before the elections. It probably won’t save them from a shellacking but if they hadn’t it would have been even worse as tons of dem voters would have just stayed home. Still not right, but I don’t think continuing the pause on payments would have even twitched the needle.
One thing the Ds could have done that might have gotten even minimal R support would be to dramatically reduce interest rates when the pause ended. Lots of borrowers were having hard times making progress against the interest. Cap that at some income dependent rate that maxes out at like 8%. Low income people would pay little or nothing in interest, high income people would pay up to their current rate or 8% whichever is less. People in the middle would be, well, in the middle. That would satisfy (well, not really but bear with me) the Dems calling for relief and the Reps demanding people pay what they owe. With some class based “progressive” effects thrown in for good measure. Still wrong, but less wrong than outright forgiveness.
Nothing short of complete 100% forgiveness and all tuition paid for by the government going forward would shut up idiots like AOC. But the above would have been a shrewd move for the Rs that could have taken a lot of wind out of the Ds sails.
