Biden provides further $4.9bn student debt relief

Move comes as bill to simplify repayment while cutting student support is introduced by Republican

The US government has awarded student loan debt relief totalling $4.9 billion to another 73,600 borrowers—people on lower incomes or who have worked in public service for 10 years or more.

“My administration is able to deliver relief to these borrowers—and millions more—because of fixes we made to broken student loan programmes that were preventing borrowers from getting relief they were entitled to under the law,” president Joe Biden said.