stop transfer – More than 60 Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. André Carson urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon to cancel student debt for eligible borrowers, clear an income-driven repayment application backlog, exte
For millions of student-loan borrowers, the calendar is starting to feel like a countdown. Defaults are already at a record high, and Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to move faster on cancellation—before new repayment changes take effect on July 1.
On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Jeff Merkley, along with Reps. Ayanna Pressley and André Carson, led a push joined by more than 60 Democratic colleagues to press Education Sec. Linda McMahon to provide student-debt relief to eligible borrowers.
They want the administration to cancel student debt for borrowers who qualified for relief under existing programs. The list includes Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the Total and Permanent Disability discharge, and borrower defense to repayment. The lawmakers also asked the department to clear a backlog of income-driven repayment applications.
The urgency is shaped by the scale of the crisis. Defaults are at a record high: 7.7 million borrowers were in default at the end of 2025, with another 3 million in delinquency.
In their letter. the lawmakers said President Donald Trump’s sweeping student-loan changes—new repayment plans. the elimination of SAVE. and the planned transfer of defaulted accounts to the Treasury—could push more borrowers into default. They argued the administration has not dealt meaningfully with the default crisis.
“The Trump administration’s failure to meaningfully address the default crisis has raised Americans’ costs and tanked borrowers’ ability to access credit,” the lawmakers wrote.
They added: “It is unacceptable that debt cancellation that borrowers are legally entitled to has been delayed and denied,” they said.
The push comes less than a month before the repayment overhaul goes into effect on July 1. Many borrowers are already preparing for higher monthly payments—some hundreds of dollars more—because SAVE. which would have allowed for cheaper payments and a shorter timeline to debt relief. is set to be eliminated.
Nicholas Kent, the department’s undersecretary, said in a statement that the changes “will ensure students continue to have the access that they need for federal student loans, while helping prevent borrowers from taking on unmanageable debt levels that they may never be able to repay.”
Before the July 1 shift, the lawmakers are asking McMahon to slow the pressure on borrowers who are already in trouble. In January, the Department of Education paused involuntary collections for defaulted borrowers while preparing to implement the coming repayment changes.
The Democratic lawmakers urged the department to extend that pause. holding off on wage garnishment and the seizure of federal benefits. They also argued the department is preparing to transfer defaulted student-loan accounts to the Treasury. and said that transfer should be stopped so relief for defaulted borrowers can continue.
The letter asks McMahon to provide information on multiple parts of the transition. The lawmakers want details on when the department plans to resume involuntary collections and an update on the debt relief backlog—particularly the backlog tied to income-driven repayment applications.
With defaults at record levels and July 1 approaching, the fight is no longer abstract. It’s about whether borrowers who have already fallen behind get relief that was promised by existing programs—and whether the administration’s shift toward new repayment structures accelerates harm for people already facing garnishment and benefit seizures.
student loan default Elizabeth Warren Jeff Merkley Ayanna Pressley André Carson Linda McMahon Treasury transfer income-driven repayment SAVE elimination Public Service Loan Forgiveness Total and Permanent Disability discharge borrower defense to repayment Nicholas Kent July 1 repayment overhaul