Far more practical and far more needed than Democrat presidential candidates like Elizabeth Warren’s plan to eliminate all student loan debt in the United States is what President Trump just did.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order forgiving student loan debt for disabled veterans. He declared,
“Veterans who have made such enormous sacrifices for our country should not be asked to pay any more, rather it is America who owes our heroes a supreme debt of gratitude.”
Check it out:
President Trump made the official announcement on Twitter:
Fox News has more to say:
President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that forgives all student loan debt for any permanently disabled U.S. military veterans.
The order, which Trump signed following a speech at the American Veterans National Convention in Louisville, Ky., also clears those eligible veterans from having to pay any federal income tax on the loans. Trump added that he is pressuring individual states to follow suit.
“The debt of these disabled veterans will be completely erased,” Trump said. “That’s hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans debt for our disabled veterans that will be completely erased.”
The memo Trump signed directs the government to develop an "expedited" process so veterans can have their federal student loan debt discharged "with minimal burdens." Currently, just half of the roughly 50,000 disabled veterans who are qualified to have their federal student loan debt forgiven have received the benefit because of a burdensome application process.
Under the current process, disabled veterans can have their debt forgiven under a loan forgiveness program, called Total and Permanent Disability Discharge, or TPD, as long as they have a VA service-connected disability rating of 100 percent. As of July, however, only about 20 percent of the eligible pool of veterans had taken advantage of the program due to the complicated nature of the application and other factors.
CBS Newsalso stated:
President Trump has signed a memorandum directing the Department of Education to forgive all federal student loan debt owed by veterans who are "completely and permanently" disabled.
The policy change will eliminate "hundreds of millions of dollars" of student loan debt, Mr. Trump said in announcing the memo at a speech to the American Veterans 75th National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The memo Mr. Trump signed on stage Wednesday directs Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to create an expedited process to make sure those veterans have their debt discharged with minimal burdens, according to the White House.
Townhall added:
According to President Trump, 25,000 disabled veterans will benefit from this move.
“The debt of these disabled veterans will be completely erased,” Trump said during a speech at the American Veterans National Convention in Louisville. “That’s hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans debt for our disabled veterans that will be completely erased.”
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!