Does the next stimulus bill include canceling student loans?

Here’s what you need to know.

New stimulus bill

Just weeks after the passage of the CARES law, the House of Representatives today passed a $ 484 billion stimulus bill. The new stimulus package focuses primarily on funds for small businesses and coronavirus testing. Unlike the CARES Act – the $ 2 trillion stimulus package to help provide financial support to Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this new stimulus aid will be not lead to new stimulus checks. Here is the breakdown of the $ 484 billion, also known as the PPP Healthcare Enhancement Act:

• Payment Protection Program (PPP): 310 billion dollars
• Emergency money for the health system: $ 75 billion
• Economic Disaster Loan Program: $ 50 billion
• Testing and contact tracing capabilities: $ 25 billion
• Administrative costs of the PPP: $ 12 billion
• Emergency subsidy program for economic damage:10 billion dollars
• Small Business Administration Salaries and Expenses: $ 2 billion

Missing from this list: student loan discount. Unfortunately, student loan forgiveness is not included in this stimulus bill.

Why no student loan forgiveness?

This stimulus bill is all about helping small businesses and funding testing and contract testing. Why was the student loan forgiveness not included? It’s not that House and Senate Democrats haven’t worked hard all year to pass student loan cancellation.

Even though student loan cancellation was not included in the latest stimulus bill, that doesn’t mean Congress hasn’t helped student loan borrowers. Student loan debt relief has been a central feature of the CARES Act. Following President Donald Trump’s executive actions on federal student loans for 60 days, the CARES Act provided the following benefits for student loans from March 13, 2020 to September 30, 2020:

Future stimulation: cancellation of the student loan?

The president and members of Congress have expressed interest in future stimulus measures. There have been several legislative proposals, including one $ 2,000 per month stimulus check as good as free rent and mortgage payments. So far, canceling student loans is not high on the priority list of the next stimulus package. However, there have been discussions about a possible infrastructure package, tax support to state and local governments, extra pay for frontline workers, payroll tax cuts, food aid and more. .

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