Biden to cancel student debt for over 277,000 borrowers

President Joe Biden announced Friday that he would be canceling student loan debt for over 277,000 borrowers. 

In total, $7.4 million will be canceled from borrowers in over 40 states, which brings the total amount of student loan cancellation to $153 billion, according to The Hill.

“From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity," Biden said. "I will never stop working to cancel student debt – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us."

GOP elected officials have been critical of Biden attempting to cancel student loan debt, arguing that it is unconstitutional.

Missouri GOP Attorney General Andrew Bailey called Biden's actions a "constitutional crisis."

On Monday, Biden outlined a election-year plan to cancel student loan debt for over 30 million Americans.

The Education Department created the new plan as an alternative to the original one, which the Supreme Court struck down in June. The first plan was worth about $500 billion dollars and impacted 43 million Americans, according to the court's ruling.