What is the Higher Education Act and how does Biden plan to use it in new student debt efforts?

President Joe Biden announced that his efforts to provide millions of student loan borrowers with debt relief were not over on Friday after a Supreme Court decision blocked his current debt relief program.

Biden said his next move would be through the use of the 1965 Higher Education Act, which gives Education Secretary Miguel Cardona the authority to “compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including any equity or any right of redemption.”

The 1965 law was established under President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his domestic agenda. The law was intended to offer financial assistance to college students, including through low-interest loans and the establishment of new scholarships.

An important aspect of the older legislation was that it did not mandate a national emergency in order to address student loans. The previous law Biden tried to invoke to forgive the loans, called the HEROES Act, only gave Cardona the ability to “waive or modify” federal student loan provisions in a national emergency.

Several Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), encouraged the Biden administration to use the 1965 law as the basis for its student loan forgiveness program as early as 2021.