
oe Biden has canceled more student loan debt than any other President -- a notable fact that's flown under the radar.
Taking a piecemeal approach, the Biden administration has expanded existing loan forgiveness programs for borrowers who work in the public sector, those who were defrauded by for-profit colleges and borrowers who are now permanently disabled.
Those moves have delivered significant relief to more than 700,000 borrowers, totaling more than $17 billion.
Yet some voters feel misled by the President, who had supported canceling $10,000 for each of the 43 million federal student loan borrowers while on the campaign trail.
"He's not delivering on his promise," said Jennifer Lewis, a 57-year-old nurse practitioner in Washington state who has about $80,000 in student loan debt.
"If he were to run again, I would think twice about voting for president at all," added Lewis, a self-described "super progressive."
Biden is also facing a drumbeat of pressure from some key Democratic lawmakers who are urging him to do more and cancel $50,000 per borrower.
That puts Biden in a tough political spot as federal student loan payments are set to resume May 1after a two-year, pandemic-related pause. Biden could decide to extend the pause again, a move that could please borrowers in a midterm election year who are struggling with rising inflation.
But not every Democrat thinks it's a good idea to broadly cancel student debt, and some economists warn that extending the payment pause could make inflation worse.
"I think it's important to keep in mind that there is far from a consensus viewpoint among Democratic members of Congress and Democratic voters that large sums of debt should be canceled," said Michelle Dimino, an education senior policy adviser at Third Way, a think tank that promotes center-left ideas.