美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周一正式启动了学生贷款救济申请，此前该网站的测试版本于本周末上线——这是人们期待已久的在中期选举前几周兑现其竞选承诺的第一步。

“今天标志着我的政府迈出了一大步，让教育成为中产阶级的入场券，”拜登说。

“现在开始申请新的学生贷款。如果你有联邦学生债务，请访问学生aid.gov。很容易，简单，快速。对全国数百万美国人来说，这是新的一天。

2022年10月17日，在华盛顿艾森豪威尔行政办公楼南法庭礼堂，美国教育部长米格尔·卡多纳在乔·拜登总统发表关于学生债务减免门户测试的讲话时观看。

Brendan Smialowski/法新社

教育部长米格尔·卡多纳在周一的简报会后表示，超过800万借款人已经通过周五推出的“测试版”申请贷款豁免。

该计划的推出是一个备受期待的举措，旨在实现拜登8月份的声明，即学生贷款低于125，000美元的个人可以申请高达10，000美元的债务减免，或高达20，000美元的符合条件的借款人，他们也是佩尔助学金的获得者。

教育部发言人表示，在测试阶段提交学生债务减免计划申请的借款人，现在申请正式启动后，不需要重新申请。

“随着数百万人填写申请表。拜登周一表示:“我们将确保该系统继续尽可能平稳地运行，以便我们能够尽可能快、尽可能高效地为数百万美国人提供学生贷款救济。”。

“我的承诺是，如果当选总统，我将让政府为人民服务。这一推出兑现了我的承诺，正如我兑现了我的承诺，随着借款人从这场由千载难逢的疫情引发的经济危机中复苏，我将减轻学生债务。”

拜登还承认共和党人试图阻止新的救助计划。

“拜登救市计划不仅不公平地惩罚了美国人，而且是今年11月民主党的政治失败者。在拜登周一发表声明后，共和党全国委员会发言人内森·布兰德(Nathan Brand)在一份声明中说，尽管拜登给富人施舍，但他的议程却用不断上涨的油价、高昂的食品账单和增税来抨击家庭。

该政策在法庭上多次受到挑战，主要是保守派组织和州政府，他们认为拜登政府无权取消学生贷款债务，这取决于国会。

“国会的共和党议员、共和党州长们正竭尽全力否认这一壮举，甚至对他们自己的选民也是如此。我一宣布我的政府的学生债务计划，他们就开始攻击它，说各种各样的事情。他们的愤怒是错误的，也是虚伪的，”他说。

到目前为止，没有任何诉讼停止了该项目，拜登政府认为，根据《英雄法案》(HEROES Act)，该项目有着坚实的法律基础，该法案在紧急时期向教育部长提供了比通常更广泛的权力，如COVID。拜登说，这是他的政府的法律判断，救援计划不会被阻止。

拜登指出，许多反对该政策的共和党成员受益于其他与COVID相关的救济项目，如薪酬保护计划或美国救援计划贷款。

“我一宣布我的政府的学生债务计划，他们就开始攻击它，说各种各样的事情。他们的愤怒是错误的，也是虚伪的。我永远不会为帮助美国工人和中产阶级从疫情恢复过来而道歉，”他继续说道。

拜登说:“我不想再听到共和党官员的声音，他们听到谁拥有数十万美元，甚至数百万美元的疫情救助贷款，PPP贷款，但现在谁攻击美国中产阶级正在获得救济的工作。”

根据2008年修订的估计，联邦学生贷款免除计划将在10年内花费4000亿美元九月下旬来自国会预算办公室，这一数字低于一个主要的外部估计。

拜登说:“总的来说，超过4000万美国人可以从这项救济中受益，其中大约90%到90%的救济将流向年收入低于7.5万美元的人。”。“让我说清楚:一毛钱也不会给收入最高的5%的人。句号。”

拜登周一表示，美国“有望”在本财年将联邦赤字减少1万亿美元，并在未来十年内再减少3000亿美元，因为《通货膨胀削减法案》中的一项条款允许医疗补助计划现在与企业谈判药品价格。

“我们有能力负担这项学生贷款减免，”拜登声称。"正是因为我们历史性的赤字削减，共和党人投了反对票."

他还表示，不符合贷款豁免计划资格的借款人将获得联邦收入，这些借款人将需要在今年1月暂停支付停止时开始支付贷款。“这意味着每年将有数十亿美元进入美国财政部，”拜登说。

"我的政府的计划在经济上是负责任的."

Biden officially launches student loan forgiveness application

President Joe Biden on Monday officially launched the application for student loan relief, after the test version of the site went live this weekend -- a long-awaited first step to fulfilling one of his campaign promises just weeks before the midterm elections.

"Today marks a big step among others that my administration is taking to make education a ticket to the middle class," Biden said.

"A new student loan application is now open. If you have federal student debt please visitstudent aid.gov. It's easy, simple and fast. And it's a new day for millions of Americans all across our nation," he said.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said after the Monday briefing that over 8 million borrowers have already applied for loan forgiveness through the "beta" -- or test -- version of the application, launched on Friday.

The rollout is a much-anticipated move to accomplish Biden's August announcement that individuals with student loans making less that $125,00 can apply for up to $10,000 of debt relief, or as much as $20,000 for eligible borrowers who were also Pell Grant recipients.

Borrowers who submitted their applications for the student debt relief program during the beta test period won't need to reapply now that the application is officially launched, according to a department spokesperson.

"As millions of people fill out the application. We're going to make sure the system continues to work as smoothly as possible so that we can deliver student loan relief for millions of Americans as quickly and as efficiently as possible," Biden said on Monday.

"My commitment was, if elected president, I was going to make government work to deliver for the people. This rollout keeps that commitment, just as I'm keeping my commitment to relieve student debt as borrowers recover from this economic crisis caused by the once in a lifetime pandemic."

Biden also acknowledged the Republicans who are seeking to block the new relief.

"The Biden bailout is not only unfairly punishing Americans, but it is a political loser for Democrats this November. While Biden gives the wealthy a handout, his agenda has slammed families with rising gas prices, sky-high grocery bills, and tax hikes," Republican National Committee spokesperson Nathan Brand said in a statement after Biden's Monday announcement.

The policy has been challenged multiple times in court, largely by conservative organizations and states that argue that the Biden administration doesn't have the authority to cancel student loan debt -- that it's up to Congress.

"Republican members of Congress, Republican governors are trying to do everything they can to deny this feat, even to their own constituents. As soon as I announced my administration's student debt plan, they started attacking it, saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong, and it's hypocritical," he said.

So far, none of the lawsuits has halted the program, which the Biden administration argues is on firm legal footing under the HEROES Act — an act that provides broader-than-usual authority to the Education Secretary during emergency periods, such as COVID. Biden said it's his administration's legal judgment that the relief program will not be blocked.

Biden noted that many of the GOP members who have opposed the policy have benefited from other COVID-related relief programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program or American Rescue Plan loans.

"As soon as I announced my administration's student debt plan, they started attacking it, saying all kinds of things. Their outrage is wrong, and it's hypocritical. I will never apologize for helping working Americans and middle class people as they recover from the pandemic," he continued.

"I don't want to hear from Republican officials again, who heard who had hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars in pandemic relief loans, PPP loans, but who now attack the work the middle class Americans are getting relief," Biden said.

The federal student loan forgiveness plan will cost $400 billion over 10 years, according to a revised estimate inlate Septemberfrom the Congressional Budget Office, which is a lower number than from one leading outside estimate.

"In total, more than 40 million Americans can stand to benefit from this relief, and about 90 percent -- 90 percent of that relief is going to go people making less than $75,000 a year," Biden said. "Let me be clear: Not a dime will go to those in the top 5 percent of the income bracket. Period."

Biden said on Monday that the country is "on track" to reducing the federal deficit by $1 trillion this fiscal year, along with reducing it by another $300 billion over the next ten years because of a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that allows Medicaid to now negotiate drug prices with corporations.

"We’re able to afford this student loan relief," Biden claimed. "It’s because of our historic deficit reduction that Republicans voted against."

He also said there would be federal income from the borrowers who do not qualify for the loan forgiveness program who will need to begin paying their loans when the payment pause discontinues this January. "That means billions of dollars a year will start coming into the U.S. Treasury," Biden said.

"My administration's plan is economically responsible."