Black Immigrant Daily News

President Joe Biden on Monday officially kicked off the application process for his student debt cancellation programme and announced that eight million borrowers had already applied for loan relief during the federal government’s soft launch period over the weekend.

He encouraged the tens of millions eligible for potential relief to visit studentaid.gov and touted the application form that the president said would take less than five minutes to complete. An early, “beta launch” version of the online form released late Friday handled the early stream of applications “without a glitch or any difficulty,” Biden said.

“It means more than eight million Americans are — starting this week — on their way to receiving life-changing relief,” Biden, accompanied by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, said Monday.

The president called his programme a “game-changer” for millions of Americans saddled with student loan debt.

The number of borrowers who applied during the testing period already amounts to more than one-fourth of the total number of applicants the administration had projected would submit forms, underscoring the popularity of the programme and the eagerness of borrowers to receive the debt relief.

Some 8 million borrowers who have income information already on file with the Education Department would see their debt cancelled without applying.

Biden’s plan calls for US$10,000 in federal student debt cancellation for those with incomes below US$125,000 a year, or households that make less than US$250,000 a year. Those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college are eligible for an additional US$10,000. The plan makes 20 million eligible to get their federal student debt erased entirely.

Biden promised to pursue widespread student debt forgiveness as a presidential candidate, but the issue went through more than a year of internal deliberation amid questions about its legality. His plan sparked intense debate ahead of the midterm elections, with Republicans and some Democrats saying it’s an unfair handout for college graduates.

But on Monday, Biden offered a full-throated defence of his decision.

“My commitment was if elected president, I was going to make government work to deliver for the people,” Biden said. “This rollout keeps that commitment.”

He also took aim at Republican officials who have either criticised the plan or are working in court to defeat it.

“Their outrage is wrong and it’s hypocritical,” Biden said. “I will never apologise for helping working Americans and middle-class people as they recover from the pandemic.

Biden on Monday said the White House has received more than 10,000 comments and calls of thanks from borrowers. Indeed, thousands took to social media to share the form, with many saying they submitted their applications with little trouble.

The Biden administration has touted it as a “simple, straightforward” application. It asks for the borrower’s name, Social Security number, contact information, and date of birth. It does not require income information but asks users to check a box attesting that they are eligible under the programme’s income limits.

That information will be checked against Education Department records to help identify applicants who are likely to exceed the income limits, the administration says. Those people will be asked for more information to prove their incomes.

An estimated one million to five million people will be required to provide that extra documentation, the Education Department said in a recent submission to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

Creating and processing the form is estimated to cost nearly US$100 million, a figure that angered advocates who view the application as an unnecessary barrier. The form is meant to help exclude the roughly five per cent of borrowers who exceed the income limits, but advocates say it could also deter some lower-income Americans who need the relief.

Once the Education Department begins processing applications, borrowers should expect to see their debt forgiven in four to six weeks, officials say. Most applications submitted by mid-November will be processed by January1 — the day federal student loan payments are set to resume after being paused during the pandemic.

Borrowers will be able to submit applications through the end of 2023.

The Biden administration is pushing ahead with the debt cancellation even as it fights a growing number of legal challenges. Six Republican-led states are suing to block the plan, saying it oversteps Biden’s authority and will lead to financial losses for student loan servicers, which are hired to manage federal student loans and earn revenue on the interest.

A federal judge in St Louis is now weighing the states’ request for an injunction to halt the plan. In court documents, the Education Department has vowed not to finalise any of the debt cancellation before October 23.

Biden acknowledged Monday that litigation is ongoing but said his administration believes the lawsuits won’t ultimately affect the programme.___

By COLLIN BINKLEY and SEUNG MIN KIM

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Shouts and screams echoed around 8th Avenue Harts Gap, Christ Church earlier today, October 17, when a fire completely destroyed an abandoned house in the area.

Residents who quickly gathered on the scene which was engulfed in smoke from around 10:30 am openly voiced their frustrations about the fire they believed was intentionally lit.

I have my suspicions but I care not to voice them on air. I will let the authorities deal with that situation

Speaking to Loop News resident James Codrington recounted the day’s ordeal which began with a loud explosion.

“This morning I heard the popping of bottles, probably a gas bottle exploded and there were shouts and screams from people in the neighbourhood, so I ran out. Well, I had two physically challenged people here on the inside of my dwelling so everybody was shouting saying, ‘James! James! Get them out!’, which I did and they are parked right below here in the cool. But the heat was so intense and the smoke was threatening to the gentlemen because they were unable to run.”

Codrington who professed that his neighbourhood is usually “peaceful and welcoming” revealed that a mere few months ago another fire occurred in the neighbourhood.

“This is the second fire that we’ve had. The first one was approximately next door to it, that was on the 28th of April on National Heroes Day and the second one now, as it is quietly now burning, is the second one to go.”

Explaining that he had his beliefs, the mature gentleman maintained that he would “let the authorities deal with that situation.”

“Your guess is as good as mine as to what is the cause. Fortunately, there is no loss of life, praise God! So now God will rebuild. I have my suspicions but I care not to voice them on air. I will let the authorities deal with that situation.”

Codrington however praised the Barbados Fire Service for their fast-acting efforts.

“The authorities can just do what they can, but in this case, I must commend the Barbados Fire Service for a quick and prompt response because I put in a call and the dispatcher told me that so many calls had came in before, and within five minutes of placing the call, the fire truck was here. They were very very quick and active.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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LONDON (AP) — The UK’s new Treasury chief ripped up the government’s economic plan on Monday, dramatically reversing most of the tax cuts and spending plans that new Prime Minister Liz Truss announced less than a month ago. The move raises more questions about how long the beleaguered British leader can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said he was scrapping “almost all” of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise — repeated just last week — that there will be no public spending cuts.

While the reversal of policy calmed financial markets and helped restore the government’s economic credibility, it further undermined the prime minister’s rapidly crumbling authority and fuelled calls for her to step down before her despairing Conservative Party forces her out.

Truss declined to attend the House of Commons to answer a question on the economy from the leader of the opposition, sending House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt in her place. Mordaunt denied a lawmaker’s suggestion that Truss was “cowering under her desk” to avoid scrutiny.

“The prime minister is not under a desk,” Mordaunt said, words hardly likely to inspire confidence in the leader who only came to power last month.

Truss’ spokesman said the prime minister and Hunt had jointly agreed on the economic changes. But Hunt told Conservative lawmakers that Truss “backed him to the hilt in making difficult decisions” — suggesting he has a free hand to make policy.

With Truss sitting silently beside him, Hunt told lawmakers that he was cancelling Truss’ plan to reduce the basic rate of income tax by 1 percentage point and most of her other libertarian economic policies. In a message aimed squarely at reassuring the financial markets, he said Britain was “a country that funds our promises and pays our debts.”

“And when that is questioned, as it has been, this government will take the difficult decisions necessary to ensure there is trust and confidence in our national finances,” Hunt said.

Hunt was appointed Friday after Truss fired his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, who spent less than six weeks in the Treasury job. Hunt is seeking to restore the Conservative government’s credibility for sound fiscal policy after Truss and Kwarteng rushed out a plan for tax cuts without detailing how they would pay for them.

Truss and Kwarteng jointly came up with a Sept. 23 announcement of 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts that immediately spooked the financial markets. The cuts fuelled investor concerns about unsustainable levels of government borrowing, which pushed up government borrowing costs, raised home mortgage costs and sent the pound plummeting to an all-time low against the dollar. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to protect pension funds, which were squeezed by volatility in the bond market.

Over the weekend, Hunt has been dismantling that economic plan. The government had already ditched parts of its tax-cutting plan and announced it would make a medium-term fiscal statement on Oct. 31, weeks earlier than previously scheduled.

On Monday, Hunt went further. He scaled back a cap on energy prices designed to help households pay their bills. It will now be reviewed in April rather than lasting two years — sweeping away one of Truss’ signature plans to help Britons facing a cost-of-living crisis as food, fuel and mortgage prices soar.

Hunt told lawmakers that the measures he announced would save 32 billion pounds a year, but that spending cuts were also coming.

“There remain, I’m afraid, many difficult decisions to be announced” in the fuller budget statement on Oct. 31, he said.

Hunt also said he was setting up a new Economic Advisory Council of economists and investment bankers to help inform policy — a far cry from Truss’ bid to throw out economic “orthodoxy.”

The pound rose more than one per cent to above $1.13 in London after Hunt’s announcements. That pushed the UK currency back above where it was trading on Sept. 22, the day before Kwarteng announced the tax cuts.

Yields on 10-year government bonds, an indicator of government borrowing costs, fell to 3.947 per cent from 4.327 per cent on Friday. It was 3.495 per cent on Sept. 22. Bond yields tend to rise as the risk of a borrower defaulting increases.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said Monday’s announcements would not be enough “to undo the damage caused by the debacle of the last few weeks. But they are big, welcome, clear steps in the right direction.”

The financial fiasco has turned Truss into a lame-duck prime minister. She took office just six weeks ago after winning a party election to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced out in July after ethics scandals ensnared his administration. Many Conservatives now believe their only hope is to replace Truss — but they are divided about who should take over.

In a BBC interview, Truss conceded that she had made mistakes. But, she vowed, “I will lead the Conservatives into the next general election.”

Few believe that possible. The Conservative Party still commands a large majority in Parliament, and — in theory — has two years until a national election must be held. Polls suggest holding an election now would be a wipeout for the Tories, with the Labour Party winning a big majority.

Labour Party economics spokeswoman Rachel Reeves said Truss was “barely in office, and she is certainly not in power,” and claimed the Conservatives could not fix the problems they had caused.

“The truth is an arsonist is still an arsonist, even if he runs back into the burning building with a bucket of water,” she said.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading firm IG, said the markets were reassured by the presence of Hunt, a former UK foreign secretary and health chief.

“I think markets in some ways would rather things just stayed as they are for a while,” he said. “OK, the PM has found her authority quite truncated. But at least you’ve got the chancellor in place almost running the country.

“I think they’re quite content with that slightly odd state of affairs, for the moment.”

___

Jo Kearney contributed to this story.

By: Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka

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