Politics and Current
What Black student loan borrowers need to know about Biden’s new “Plan B” for debt relief
The collective plan goals to provide significant relief to Black borrowers who rely more heavily on student debt than white families and who take longer to repay, the Biden-Harris administration says.
President Joe Biden announced his long-awaited Plan B for student loan debt relief on Monday, almost a yr after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his original program. A White House statement said the new plan would supply “significant relief” to Black and Latino borrowers.
“We know that there are large racial disparities in the student loan program, with students of color more likely to borrow larger amounts and have greater difficulty repaying (their loans),” US Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal told the Grio. Additionally, he said, this system would have a “positive impact on the racial wealth gap.
“Most black borrowers have more than 10 years of debt out of school than they originally borrowed due to higher interest rates than repayments,” Kvaal explained. “We need to bring relief to anyone struggling with their student loans.”
What is Biden’s plan B?
The announcement includes five methods to “fix” the federal student loan program, including allowing debt forgiveness for borrowers who owe more today than after they began repayment, who’ve been in debt for 20 years or longer and who’re experiencing financial hardship.
The Biden-Harris administration says the plan goals to provide significant relief to Black borrowers, who rely more heavily on student debt than white families and who take longer to repay their loans. Combined with existing federal government programs which have forgiven $140 billion in student loan debt for 4 million borrowers, the administration anticipates that greater than 30 million Americans will profit from some type of relief.
Borrowers who owe greater than the unique balance when interest payments begin can be eligible for federal student loan forgiveness, which Kvaal said amounts to about 25 million borrowers. This can be particularly vital for black borrowers who’re more likely to see their balances increase, According to to the Brookings Institute.
As for the debt relief program for vulnerable people, Kvaal said the Biden-Harris administration would consider health care costs or other “unusual family expenses.”
“We have a number of programs aimed at reducing payments or forgiving loans to people who are having trouble repaying their loans for a number of reasons,” he said. “But there are still many people who slip between these programs and struggle to repay their loans. These difficulties are intended to give us the flexibility to help additional people who really need it.”
Other plans announced Monday include the opportunity of debt forgiveness for borrowers who attended institutions that “failed to meet accountability requirements” or “failed to provide sufficient financial value to students.” These are educational institutions where the administration determines the offer of programs that don’t lead to paid work. Some institutions have been punished for being predatory lenders to students. Another principle of Plan B is to make efforts to be certain that existing programs can be found to those that qualify but haven’t yet applied.
When will student debt relief be granted?
While Plan B has been highly anticipated, particularly amongst black borrowers, it would not be implemented for several months. The next phase of the federal rulemaking process can be to allow the general public to provide comments on proposed programs before they change into policy.
The legal framework for the new program relies on the Higher Education Act, unlike the previous program under the HEROES Act, which was created in response to the economic hardships related to the COVID-19 pandemic and was rejected by the Supreme Court in June 2023.
Kvaal told the Grio day by day that the administration’s goal is to “finalize these plans” and “start providing student aid” by the autumn, likely just before Election Day on November 5.
Reactions to Biden’s student debt relief program
Although borrowers can have to wait somewhat longer, student loan advocates are praising Biden’s new plan.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said in an announcement that Plan B is “a powerful testament to borrowers across the country who have fought for economic justice and continued to advocate for student debt despite obstacles from the Supreme Court and Republicans.”
“While we will continue to press for further action that matches the scale of the crisis, this is a historic day and today’s announcement sets us on a path to ensure that more than 30 million borrowers and their families will receive life-changing student debt relief this year,” the statement continued.
Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP youth and college chapter, told the Grio that the president’s new plan is “a step in the right direction.”
Cole, one in every of the civil rights group’s lead negotiators in the course of the lawmaking process, said the administration “has hit a really great place.”
“Eliminating runaway interest and people having a balance larger than they originally owed is definitely a key benefit,” Cole said. “Eliminating this will actually enable people to become home owners (and) business owners.”
A student debt relief advocate said Biden canceled the “largest amount of student debt in U.S. history” because advocates and community leaders organized and “made it a priority issue.”
“This is a phenomenal opportunity to invest in our community,” he said.
What’s not in Biden’s student debt relief plan??
Still, Cole acknowledged that the civil rights community had urged the federal government to go further. For example, a proposal to create more debt relief pathways for incarcerated Americans shouldn’t be included in Plan B.
“There are some areas we still need to explore,” he said. “Some people in this situation will never be able to repay this debt. Many of the proposals that we discussed and submitted to the Department of Education gave people a chance to really engage with this economic system.”
Cole said the federal government must proceed to “do more” to address “problems in higher education,” especially how much higher education costs have increased over the many years. “If we really want to solve this problem, we need to start talking about free college. We need to start talking about college affordability,” he said. “It’s a good, ongoing conversation.”
Referring to the November election, Cole said: “Young people want to make sure that their politicians actually keep their words because we have influence.”
He added: “It’s actually an opportunity to see the promises made being kept.”
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The post What Black Borrowers Need to Know About Biden’s New ‘Plan B’ for Debt Forgiveness appeared first on TheGrio.
Politics and Current
Kamala Harris Considers Running for Governor in 2026 and Returning to the Presidency in 2028
After a devastating and decisive defeat to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris is keeping her options open regarding her political future once she leaves office next 12 months.
Harris told her advisers and close allies: ‘I’ll stay in the fight’ Policy reports. However, it isn’t known what this fight will appear like.
According to Harris’ inner circle, the vice chairman is considering a run for California governor when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s term-limited term ends in 2026. Harris also hasn’t ruled out running for president again in 2028. However, insiders told the news outlet that it’s unlikely Harris could achieve this each.
While Harris, who left Washington last week for a vacation to Hawaii along with her family and advisers, has loads of time to resolve her next move, those close to the vice chairman have made clear she is going to remain a critical voice of Trump and his recent administration.
Politico notes that another choice for Harris is to create an independent entity as former vice chairman in which she would proceed to travel the country, give speeches and maintain political relationships if she runs for public office again.
Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic strategist who’s a detailed adviser to Harris, told Politico that the vice chairman gained “a lot of political capital” as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024. Although Harris lost the presidential election, including the popular vote, she won the most votes of any presidential candidate Democrats outside of President Joe Biden’s 2020 vote totals.
“You can’t waste this by making rash decisions,” Brazile said.
According to the latest survey conducted by Puck News/Echelon InsightsHarris stays the favorite of influential Democrats in a possible 2028 presidential campaign. The vice chairman won 41% amongst those polled, well above average support for Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Republican Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others.
Democratic strategist Joel Payne said he “doesn’t see why Kamala Harris doesn’t have a place in the future of the Democratic Party,” noting that she only has 100 days to construct a presidential campaign after President Biden dropped out of the race three months before Election Day .
Even as Democrats pointed fingers at one another after Trump’s victory, Payne added: “I believe Kamala Harris has something to be pleased with. I believe it will be shortsighted to just lay it at the feet of Kamala Harris, which is what happened to Democrats this cycle.
Politics and Current
Alabama Grandma Beaten and Killed by Cops – New FBI Documents Revealed Proposing Closure for Black Family After Decades
It was March 23, 1945, when 4 white cops entered Hattie DeBardelaben’s estate in Alabama, accusing her of manufacturing and selling untaxed whiskey.
The 46-12 months-old black mother of seven denied the allegations and consented to police searching her property.
However, law enforcement officials killed her by punching her repeatedly and breaking her neck in front of her 15-12 months-old son, who was arrested for attempting to defend his mother.
However, an FBI investigation conducted on the request of the NAACP concluded that she died of a heart attack and closed the case several months later. One of the cops involved in her death, Clyde Smith, later became sheriff of Autauga County.
The case remained secret for many years until last month, when the National Archives and Records Administration released 69 pages of documents from a Cold Case Civil Rights Records Act investigation signed by President Donald Trump in 2019.
The pending case of Hattie DeBardelaben was the primary set of records released under the act, providing closure for the victim’s grandchildren, whose parents never told how their grandmother died.
“I cried for days because I couldn’t believe what happened to my grandmother,” said 74-12 months-old Mary DeBardelaben AL.com.
“It was a cover-up,” said her brother, Dan DeBardelaben CNN. “That is exactly what happened – these documents clearly show that.”
The documents, which may be read here, here and here, make clear the horrific law enforcement murder case and the resulting government cover-up that, unfortunately, still continues.
“Hattie DeBardelaben’s name may not be familiar to most people, but her death at the hands of law enforcement officers in 1945 was sadly typical of the violence – and even death – that many black Americans experienced in the Jim Crow South.” – Margaret Burnham, co-chair of the National Security Review Board Civil Rights in preparatory proceedings, said the statement.
“Although federal agents investigated her death on the time, the perpetrators were never dropped at justice. “We hope, however, that the release of these recordings after so many years will provide some answers for her descendants, and at the same time shed light on a dark chapter in our nation’s history.”
Murder
Clyde White, who was an Autauga County sheriff’s deputy on the time, told the FBI that he had received complaints that DeBardelaben was selling illegal whiskey, so he contacted agents of the federal Alcohol Tax Unit, which was the forerunner of today’s Alcohol, Tobacco, and Federal Drug Enforcement Administration. firearms and explosives.
White said he drove as much as the DeBardelaben farm with three ATU agents: John H. Barrenbrugge, J.C. Moseley and L.O. Smith.
White said they only found a quart of whiskey and a couple of empty jugs of stinking whiskey, and decided to arrest her for the whiskey and Edward for interfering with arrest, although he didn’t describe exactly how the boy interfered beyond saying “these white sons of bitches don’t they’ll search this house.
White told FBI agents that they never hit DeBardelaben or her son and nephew and that DeBardelaben walked to the automotive without limping or complaining.
He also claimed that DeBardelaben died suddenly within the backseat of a automotive as they were driving to the Platville County Jail.
However, DeBardelaben’s 15-12 months-old son, Edward Lewis Underwood, gave a really different version of events to the FBI, telling investigators that he had just returned home from school when law enforcement officers stopped on the family farm within the countryside near Selma and asked his mother if she had some whiskey for sale.
He said his mother told officers she did not have the whiskey and that they may search the home although they did not have a warrant.
But then her 16-12 months-old nephew, James Callier, got here home from school and the officers ordered him to sit down on the bottom, but he didn’t seem to listen to them, so considered one of the officers walked as much as him and punched him, prompting Callier to take the seat next to Underwood.
“Leave him alone. She’s going to come back home,” DeBardelaben told police in defense of her nephew, which led to her beating and death.
Edward described a terrifying scene by which the identical policeman who had punched his cousin walked as much as his mother and punched her, knocking her down and causing her to fall onto a pot of boiling water she was using for laundry.
She tried to stand up, but then two ATU agents hit her again, causing her to fall onto a pot of boiling water.
“She stood up again and they each hit her again. This time she fell to her knees, keeping each hands on the bottom.
The agents then lifted her off the bottom and placed her in a chair, where she remained speechless, “panting and grunting like a person whose breath had been cut off.”
Edward said he called his two older brothers who were working within the fields to come back to the home, Johnnie and Bennie DeBardelaban, but after they approached the home, two cops pulled out their guns and ordered them to the bottom while the opposite two cops dragged them mother to the automotive, placing her within the backseat with Edward.
As they drove, Hattie begged the boys to stop and let her drink water from a close-by stream, but they ignored her request and continued driving.
She then began vomiting, so that they stopped the automotive and let her vomit on the side of the road. When she finished vomiting, Edward pulled her back into the automotive and they continued driving, but then she passed out.
They stopped the automotive again and White went to the stream, filled a bottle with water and let her son wipe her face and let her drink, but she was already dying.
“He’s my baby,” were her last words in reference to Edward, her youngest son, who was trying his hardest to assist his mother.
When they arrived at Plattville Jail, she was already dead, so that they locked Edward in a cell and contacted local undertakers to take his mother’s body to the funeral home.
Concealment
Dan Albright, a black undertaker at a neighborhood funeral home in Platville, told the FBI that the sheriff contacted him about collecting the body from the jail around 6:30 p.m. that evening. Albright said her body was still within the back seat of the police automotive and that she was “foaming from her mouth and nose, just like a boar’s foaming.”
He also said the sheriff contacted Dr. James Tankersley, who examined her body while it was still within the squad automotive and determined she had died of a heart attack despite signs of a broken neck.
“The only thing I noticed that was different from the other bodies was that every time we lifted the body, the head fell back,” Albright told investigators. “I didn’t tell the doctor anything in regards to the neck. After examination, the doctor concluded that she died of heart problems.
That evening, at Edward’s request, one other black undertaker, Fred Williams, picked up the body from the unique funeral home in Plattville and transported it to his funeral home in Selma, where the subsequent morning he examined it and determined that she had not died from a broken neck, but he reached this conclusion without performing a neck dissection.
He also emphasized that greater than 12 hours had passed since she was killed and rigor mortis had occurred, which might make it inconceivable to make a full determination.
According to A Medical examination from 2016it’s inconceivable to totally determine whether a neck fracture has occurred without performing a neck autopsy, concluding the next:
According to 1 researcher, rigor mortis, or the stiffening of muscles after death, affects the neck inside hours of death, peaking after 12 hours. Medical examination 2023.
The FBI also interviewed DeBardelaben’s doctor, a white man named J. S. Chisholm, who had treated her for 10 years, and told investigators that her health had all the time been high quality until a few month earlier, when she began complaining of shortness of breath and swollen feet.
He said he diagnosed her with a heart murmur and said she could probably live a standard life, “but it was not unusual for a person in her condition to die suddenly, especially if subjected to any unusual strain or excitement.”
This was enough for investigators to shut the case on June 30, 1945, concluding that the cops had done nothing mistaken, and of their report they stated the next.
After reading the documents of Dan and Mary DeBardelaban, whose father was Bennie DeBardelaban, considered one of the young men working within the fields when their mother died, they finally understood why the family never told them how their grandmother died, even when she visited her growing up within the grave . All seven of her children have since died.
“You know, my dad and his brothers and cousins witnessed what really happened,” Dan told AL.com.
“I’m sure this example was extremely traumatic for my father and was considered one of the the reason why he never said a word nor did he or his other six sisters and brothers seek advice from us about what happened. “
Politics and Current
Washington’s power has modified. Here’s how the ACA could change
Trump teased ACA overhaul; other Republican lawmakers have said changing the laws referred to as Obamacare can be a priority.
President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House could embolden Republicans who need to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act, but implementing such sweeping changes would still require overcoming procedural and political hurdles.
Trump, a longtime opponent of the ACA, expressed interest in changing the health law during the campaign. Additionally, some senior Republican lawmakers – who will now control each the House and Senate – have said changing the landmark 2010 laws referred to as Obamacare can be a priority. They argue that the law is simply too expensive and an overreach of the government’s powers.
The ruling trio is setting the stage for potentially seismic changes that could limit the expansion of Medicaid laws, raise uninsured rates, weaken patient protections and increase premium costs for hundreds of thousands of individuals.
“The Republicans’ plans — they don’t say they’re going to repeal the ACA, but their set of policies could amount to the same goal or worse,” said Sarah Lueck, vice chairman for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , a research and policy institute. “This can happen through legislation and regulation. We are ready for anything. It can take many forms.”
Over the years, Republicans in Congress have solid dozens of votes in an try and repeal the law. They didn’t accomplish that in 2017, when Trump became president, despite serving in each chambers and the White House, largely because some GOP lawmakers wouldn’t support laws they believed would cause such a marked increase in the uninsured rate .
Similar opposition to the amendment to the law may appear again, especially as polls show ACA protections are popular.
While neither Trump nor his GOP allies have detailed what they’d change, House Speaker Mike Johnson said last month that the A.C.A. needs “massive reform” and can be included in the party program if Trump wins.
Congress could theoretically amend the ACA and not using a single Democratic vote, using a process referred to as “reconciliation.” But the narrow margins by which Republicans control the House and Senate mean that only a handful of “no” votes could derail the effort.
Many of the more ambitious goals would require Congress. Some conservatives have called for changing the funding formula for Medicaid, the federal government’s medical health insurance program for low-income people and other people with disabilities. The idea could be to make use of budget reconciliation to get lawmakers to agree to cut back the share the federal government pays to the growing population. The group that will be most affected could be mostly higher-income adults and adults who do not need children, moderately than “traditional” Medicaid beneficiaries similar to pregnant women, children and other people with disabilities.
A conservative idea that will allow individuals to make use of ACA subsidies for exchange-traded plans that violate the health law would likely require Congress. This could encourage healthier people to make use of subsidies to purchase cheaper and stingier plans, raising premiums for older and sicker consumers who need more comprehensive coverage.
“This is like a plan to repeal the ACA,” said Cynthia Cox, vice chairman and director of the Affordable Care Act program at KFF, the nonprofit health information organization that owns KFF Health News. “It’s repeal by another name.”
Congress would likely be needed to pass a proposal to transfer a few of consumers’ ACA subsidies to health savings accounts to cover qualified medical expenses.
Trump could also decide to bypass Congress. He did so during his last term, when the Department of Health and Human Services invited states to use for waivers to change how they pay for Medicaid programs – limiting federal funds in exchange for greater state flexibility in running the program. Waivers are popular in each blue and red states as other changes to Medicaid are made.
“Trump will do whatever he thinks he can,” said Chris Edelson, an assistant professor of presidency at American University. “If he wants to do something, he’ll just do it.”
Republicans have an alternative choice to weaken the ACA: They simply cannot do anything. Temporary, increased subsidies that reduce the cost of premiums — and have contributed to the nation’s lowest-ever uninsured rate — will expire at the end of next 12 months without congressional motion. Then there could be contributions double or moreon average, for subsidized consumers from 12 states which have signed up for the federal ACA exchange – in accordance with KFF data.
This would mean fewer people could afford the costs of the ACA exchanges. And while the number of individuals covered by employer plans is prone to increase, it’s estimated that between 2024 and 2033 there can be a further 1.7 million uninsured people annually, in accordance with federal estimates.
Many of the states that will be hardest hit, including Texas and Florida, are represented in Congress by Republicans, which could prompt some lawmakers to think about ending the subsidies.
The Trump administration may determine to stop defending the law against lawsuits in search of to overturn parts of it. One of the most characteristic cases questions the ACA requirement for insurers to cover some preventive services totally free, similar to cancer screenings and alcohol use counseling. About 150 million people now profit from the coverage requirement.
If the Justice Department withdrew its petition after Trump took office, plaintiffs wouldn’t need to comply with the coverage requirement — which could trigger similar challenges with broader consequences. A recent Supreme Court ruling left the door open to legal challenges from other employers and insurers in search of the same relief, said Zachary Baron, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Health Policy and Law.
Meanwhile, Trump could initiate changes from his first day in the Oval Office through executive orders, i.e. directives which have the force of law.
“Early executive orders will give us an idea of the policies the administration plans to pursue,” said Allison Orris, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Early signaling through executive orders will send a message about what guidance, regulations and policies may follow.”
In fact, Trump relied heavily on these orders during his previous term: An October 2017 order directed federal agencies to start modifying the ACA and ultimately increased consumer access to health plans that were illegal. He could issue similar orders early in his latest term, using them to start the strategy of forcing changes in the law, similar to increased oversight of potential fraud.
The administration could take other steps early on that will conflict with the ACA, similar to limiting federal aid funding and helping people enroll in ACA plans. Both actions depressed registration during the previous Trump administration.
Trump could also use regulation to implement other conservative proposals, similar to expanding access to medical health insurance plans which can be inconsistent with ACA consumer protections.
The Biden administration has held back Trump’s efforts to expand so-called short-term health plans, disparaging the plans as “junk” insurance because they could not cover certain advantages and will refuse to cover individuals with pre-existing health problems.
The Trump administration is anticipated to make use of regulations to reverse Biden’s decision, allowing consumers to maintain and extend their plans for much longer.
But drafting the rules became rather more complicated after a Supreme Court ruling that said federal courts not needed to defer to federal agencies facing legal challenges to their authority. As a result, any Trump-era HHS rules may require greater efforts to dam them in the courts.
Some individuals with ACA plans say they’re concerned. Dylan Reed, a 43-year-old small business owner from Loveland, Colorado, remembers the pre-ACA days and doesn’t need to return to the days when insurance was difficult to get and he couldn’t afford.
In addition to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety, he suffers from scleroderma, an autoimmune disease related to: joint pain and numbness in the limbs. Even on the ACA plan, he estimates he pays about $1,000 a month for medications alone.
He worries that without the ACA’s protections, it can be difficult to seek out coverage for his pre-existing conditions.
“It’s definitely a scary thought,” Reed said. “I probably would have survived. I would just be in so much pain.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom dedicated to publishing in-depth journalism on health issues and is one among the predominant operating programs of KFF – an independent source of research, polls and journalism on health policy. Find out more about KFF.
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