Trump: “We’re Looking” At Extending Student Loan Payment Suspension – Forbes
President Trump said at his press briefing yesterday that his administration is potentially considering extending the current moratorium on federal student loan payments. “We… suspended student loan payments for six months, and we’re looking to do that additionally and for additional periods of time,” he said. Trump provided no further details.
Congress had suspended all payments, interest, and collections on government-held federal student loans for six months under the CARES Act, which was enacted in April. That student loan relief expires at the end of September.
House Democrats passed legislation extending that relief for an additional 12 months, but Senate Republicans have opposed that measure. Instead, Senate GOP leaders just unveiled a new stimulus package that includes no additional extension of existing student loan relief.
In March, however, prior to the CARES Act’s passage, the Trump administration had enacted a temporary emergency interest freeze and payment suspension on government-held federal student loans. The President did this via executive order following his national emergency declaration in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Congress subsequently codified that student loan relief in statute when it passed the CARES Act, and it also extended those protections for several more months (to September 30) than the President’s initial executive order had allowed.