Does the president have the power to extend the pause in student loan repayments?
In March, President Trump issued an executive order to suspend student loan payments and waive interest for all borrowers for at least 60 days due to the coronavirus. The coronavirus relief bill signed into law later in the same month set the relief to expire at the end of September.
After negotiations for another round of coronavirus relief legislation stalled in Congress, Trump on Aug. 8 directed the Education Department to extend the pause on monthly student loan payments until the end of the year.
Trump's pause on student loan debt relies on authority granted to the executive branch in the 1965 Higher Education Act, which gives the Department of Education the authority to "enforce, pay, compromise, waive or release" federally held student loan debts.
