United States: Partial cancellation of student debt is expected to cost $400 billion

Joe Biden during a press conference on the partial cancellation of student loans at the White House on August 24, 2022. AP - Evan Vucci

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1 min

Joe Biden's decision to cancel part of the federal student debt continues to cause turmoil.

The amount of the bill for the taxpayer continues to raise questions.

It will be salty anyway.

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With our correspondent in Washington,

Partial cancellation of student debt will cost $400 billion or a little more.

This is the estimate of the Congressional Budget Office, the bipartisan body that calculates the cost of public policies.

This is not the only assessment available.

Another organization, which clearly opposed the choice of Joe Biden, estimates it at more than 600 billion.

The president decided to cancel $20,000 in debt

for students who receive scholarships and $10,000 for those with an annual income of less than $125,000.

This should therefore benefit the poorest, and in particular blacks and Hispanics.

More than 40 million people are eligible, but it is not yet clear when and under what conditions all this will begin.

The Biden administration, while contesting the amounts advanced, has not yet made its own costing public, but explains that the cost, even if it is still unclear, will be spread over several years.

Republican political opponents decry fiscal and fiscal folly that exceeds the savings generated by the recent Inflation Reduction Act enacted and touted by the White House.

Above all, they see it as an injustice for those who will only contribute to the measure through their taxes.

And officials in some conservative states are considering legal action. 

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• United States

• Joe Biden