On the Money — Key student loan deadline approaches

Happy Monday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here.

Today’s Big Deal: President Biden is facing rising pressure to take further action on student loans, as a nationwide freeze on federal student loan payments is set to lapse in less than a month. We’ll also look at the recent deal announced by senators to provide $10 billion for the fight against COVID-19.  

But first, see which books are facing the most challenges from parents.  

For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Reach us at slane@digital-stage.thehill.com, afolley@digital-stage.thehill.com and kevers@digital-stage.thehill.com.

Let’s get to it. 


Biden faces rising pressure on student loans

President Biden is in a difficult position on student loans ahead of the midterms, as pressure builds from borrowers and Democrats for widespread cancellation.  

Adding to the pressure is a key deadline: On May 1, millions of borrowers will have to pay unless a freeze on federal student loan payments put in place during the pandemic is extended.  

Biden has been called on to extend the freeze until the next year — beyond the midterms. But advocates for forgiveness, along with key Democrats, want more than another freeze.  

• Biden last extended the suspension in December. Loan payments were first paused in March 2020 under former President Trump, and have since been extended five times. And a growing number of Democrats are calling for a new extension, ramping up pressure on the White House.
• In 2020, Biden was one of a number of Democratic presidential candidates who called for widespread cancellation of federal student loans. Democrats are warning that inaction could cost them in November, when the party will try to hold on to House and Senate majorities.
• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) last month called for extending the freeze until 2023. Since then, nearly 100 Democrats across both chambers have also pushed for the extension, citing inflation loan-holders are facing.  

Leaders of the House Progressive Caucus raised the issue with Biden in a sit-down last week. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who attended the meeting, told The Hill members discussed potential next steps, including “possible cancellation, possible extension of some of the programs that we’re already doing and repayments.” 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said on Friday that a decision needs to be made before May. She said the administration will “factor the impacts of economic data on ranges of groups of people, including students.”  

Aris and The Hill’s Alex Gangitano has more here. 


WE HAVE A DEAL

Senators announce $10 billion COVID-19 deal, leave out global aid  

Senators announced on Monday they had reached a deal to provide $10 billion for the fight against COVID-19, but the agreement leaves out funding for the global virus response.   

The agreement could clear the path for Congress to finally pass some new funding for the virus response, which the White House has been warning for weeks is urgently needed to allow it to purchase more vaccines, treatments and tests.   

• The announcement comes after days of negotiations between a group of GOP senators and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), with negotiators signaling late last week that they were close to finalizing specifics.
• Schumer said the deal will give the administration “urgently needed funding to purchase vaccines and therapeutics, maintain access to testing and accelerate the work on next generation vaccine research.”
• The agreement will set off a scramble to try to clear the bill before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess by Friday. To get the deal through the Senate by then they will need buy-in from all 100 senators, something that could be a significant lift. It would also need to pass the House, which is expected to vote on business-related coronavirus relief this week.  

The deal will be paid for by repurposing previous coronavirus funding, a red line garnering at least 10 GOP votes for the bill. Those funds include redirecting money from a shuttered venues fund, transportation aviation money, a higher education emergency relief fund and a small business administration loans program.  

However, the $10 billion deal is less than half of the $22.5 billion the White House initially requested. Even that full amount was only for short-term needs, and the White House said it would need to come back for more money later. That means another COVID-19 funding fight could soon come down the pike.  

Check out more here from The Hill’s Peter Sullivan and Jordain Carney


CLIMATE IMPACTS

White House details ‘immense’ risks of climate change for federal budget  

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Monday issued its first risk assessment for the impact of climate change on the federal budget, calling the fiscal risks associated with climate change “immense.”  

OMB personnel cited estimates by the Network for Greening the Financial System, a network of dozens of central banks around the world that develops best practices for climate finance, which said the current trajectory of climate change could lead to a 3 to 10 percent drop in gross domestic product by the end of the 21st century.  

• The analysis found that climate change could cost federal revenues of about 7.1 percent, or $2 trillion a year, by the end of the century.
• Specific costs would include increases in crop insurance subsidies and extensive flood damage to federal buildings.   

The analysis calls for a number of the priorities outlined in President Biden’s fiscal 2023 budget to be enacted to counteract these risks, including more than $7 billion to reduce emissions from the power sector and more than $5 billion to transition the transportation sector to renewable energy.  

The Hill’s Zack Budryk has more here.


TALKING TRUCKS

Biden, flanked by 18-wheelers, touts trucking employment  

President Biden on Monday touted steps the administration has taken to boost employment in the trucking industry amid lingering supply chain disruptions, alongside 18-wheeler cabins parked outside the White House.  

“I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the economy and the record-breaking economic comeback we’re experiencing because of a lot of you sitting out there in those chairs,” Biden said, addressing truck drivers at the event.  

• The White House announced that 2021 was the best year for trucking employment growth since 1994, noting that when Biden took office, there were 30,000 fewer trucking jobs than there had been in February 2020. Trucking employment now exceeds its pre-pandemic level by 35,000 workers.
• The event was focused on the Trucking Action Plan, which is part of the administration’s efforts to tackle lingering supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Alex Gangitano has more here. 

Good to Know

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is warning that the company could lose roughly $1 billion on Russian exposure amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.  

Dimon wrote in an annual letter to shareholders that JPMorgan Chase is “actively monitoring the impact of ongoing sanctions and Russia’s response, concerned as well about their secondary and collateral effects on so many companies and countries.”  

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• Pressure is mounting on the European Union to abandon Russian gas supplies as individual countries begin turning off the tap.
• The U.S. government aided Spanish authorities in seizing the yacht of a Russian oligarch, the first such seizure after a pledge by President Biden to go after elites’ “ill-begotten gains.”
• Stock in the SPAC that is bringing former President Trump’s social media platform Truth Social public fell Monday after top executives reportedly resigned from the company. 
  
  
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