Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Proposed Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Due to the economic fallout from the Coronavirus, two Congressional Members have introduced a new Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program called the Student Debt Emergency Relief Act, which seeks to offer federal student loan forgiveness benefits to every American with federal loans.

The backers for this newly proposed program are Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusettes.

The details of their proposed new Federal student loan relief program include:

• Cancelling at least $30,000 in Federal student loan debt for every single American who has borrowed student loans from the Federal Government
• Making any approved Federal student loan cancellation benefit related to this program entirely tax-free, so that the borrower does NOT have to claim it as taxable income next year
• Making the U.S. Department of Education pay ALL monthly Federal student loan payments for as long as the coronavirus remains a public health emergency
• Protecting all Federal student loan borrowers from having their tax refunds, tax credits, Social Security or other wages garnished via involuntary collections programs, again, for as long as the public health emergency continues

Will The Student Debt Emergency Relief Act Get Passed?

If I’m being honest, probably not.

First off, while I love the idea behind this program and think it is both important and much-needed, I highly doubt it’ll end up being put into law for a couple of reasons.

Why? Because Representative Omar has very little clout, meaning she’s not a super important representative that can garner a ton of support and get people motivated to pass her bills.

She does a lot of grandstanding, saying bad things about President Trump, promoting progressive politics, etc., which is all well and good, but she has a poor track record of actually getting her proposals made into laws, and it takes a big personality with a ton of clout to get anything through Congress these days, which she is not.

President Trump’s Coronavirus Student Loan Programs

Second, President Trump has already addressed part of the student loan crisis, at least as it relates to the coronavirus, and he actually did two things that are pretty helpful: first, pausing payments on federal student loans, and second, suspending interest accumulation.

For the full details on President Trump’s Federal Student Loan Relief Programs passed during the Coronavirus emergency, please take a look at my Blog Posts on:

To be perfectly honest, while this program most likely won’t get made into law, there’s at least a decent chance that some additional benefits will get enacted during the coronavirus, especially if the crisis continues impacting people’s ability to go to work for an extended period of time.

And by the way, these aren’t the only student loan-related proposals being made right now, because everyone’s favorite student loan forgiveness-friendly Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have both made suggestions of their own for new benefits programs.

To Get Help With Federal Student Loans

Fortunately, even if none of these new proposals are approved, the good news is that there are all sorts of existing benefits programs available to people with Federal student debt.

And you can find out all about them right here at ForgetStudentLoanDebt.com, because I’ve spent the past decade writing over 100 articles on these programs, so you’re bound to find something that can help you simply by checking out the rest of my site!

To get Help with Federal Student Loans, check out my Guides on:

To Get Help With Private Student Loans

And for those of you with private student loans, the bad news is that there’s way less assistance available, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any!

If you’re got private student loan debt, then please look at my articles on getting Help with Private Student Loans, including:

If you have any other questions about student loans, please post them in the Comments section below and I’ll do my best to get you a response within 24 hours!

Finally, Please Help Me Out!

To run this website, I basically have to work a second full-time job, and I can only continue to do that with your help!

If you found this article useful, then PLEASE share it on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter or wherever you communicate online.

The more people who visit FSLD, the more time I can dedicate to writing up Guides like this one and helping borrowers just like you.

Thank you for visiting, and thank you so much for your support!

By: Tim Marshall

Tim’s experience struggling with crushing student loan debt led him to create the website Forget Student Loan Debt in 2011, where he offers advice, tips and tricks for paying off student loans as quickly and affordably as possible.