US-Iran War Enters 11th Day as Costs Climb to $37.5 Billion, Trump Warns of More Strikes 
UN Rights Chief Volker Turk Faces Opposition Over Second Term Bid 
Trump Administration Opens Civil Rights Probes Into Five U.S. Medical Schools Over Admissions 
US-Backed Pediatric HIV Treatment Drops After Foreign Aid Changes, Study Finds 
Trump Administration Imposes New Forced Labor Tariffs on 60 Trading Partners 
US Sends First Humanitarian Aid Flight to Cuba Under $100M Assistance Plan 
Trump Threatens Iran With 'Major Military Punishment' as Red Sea Attacks Push Oil Above $100 
Russia Says It Hit Ukrainian Ports, Cargo Ships in Odesa and Chornomorsk 
Rubio Rejects AI ‘Kill Switch’ Claims as U.S. Defends American Technology Abroad 
EEOC Drops Penn Subpoena in Antisemitism Probe, Investigation Continues 
Global Leaders Push Back as Trump Imposes New Forced Labor Tariffs 
Trump Administration Monitors OpenAI Incident as Lawmakers Push AI Kill Switch Bill 
US Investigates Moonshot Over Alleged Use of Advanced AI Chips and IP Theft 
Canada Vows Trade Fight as Trump Imposes 50% Tariffs 
US-Mexico USMCA Talks Advance as Auto Rules Remain Major Sticking Point 
Trump Praises Nigeria’s Tinubu, Signaling Stronger U.S.-Nigeria Security Ties 
Amidst calls to forgive student loans in their entirety, US President Joe Biden has ordered another pause on student loan repayments. The new extension would halt loan repayments until August.
Biden is set to pause student loan repayments again, and the pause would extend through August, a federal official told the Associated Press. This would mark the seventh extension on the moratorium of student loan repayments since taking effect back in March of 2020. The Education Department said the moratorium would save millions of borrowers about $5 billion a month.
Despite the seventh extension of the pause, some have expressed frustration with the continued extensions without having a plan on forgiving the student loan debt entirely.
Some Democratic lawmakers, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren, have been pressing Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt through executive actions. Back in March, dozens of Democratic lawmakers sent Biden a letter urging the US leader to extend the pause through the end of the year and “provide meaningful student debt cancellation.”
Biden has said that a move to forgive student loan debt must be authorized by Congress, which would be an uphill battle in the evenly-divided Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also echoed Biden’s comments that only Congress has the authority to forgive student debt. The US leader campaigned on forgiving up to $10,000
There has also been a push to restart payments, led by conservative advocacy groups. The groups say that the moratorium has been generous to those who still suffer from student loan debt repayments, and in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona back in March, they cited that repayments of student loans would be a way to address the national deficit and counter inflation.
In other related news, Biden expressed support for the efforts to unionize Amazon workers Wednesday, following a vote by one of the company’s warehouses last week in favor of joining a union.
“The choice to join a union belongs to workers alone,” said the US leader in his remarks at the North America Building Trades Unions national conference. “By the way, Amazon, here we come. Watch.”
