Tell your member of Congress that they must continue fighting for student loan borrowers! TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend, 

Nearly everyday this month has been one thing or another and with so much going on you may have missed the news that after a 5 year pause of collection activity on federal student loans, President Trump’s Department of Education will not only restart collections on defaulted federal student loans, BUT it will also enlist predatory tactics like wage garnishment, tax refund interceptions AND seizure of Social Security benefits. 

If you’ve just silently cursed under your breath, I’m right there with you. 

→ Tell your member of Congress to keep fighting for borrower relief and support for the nearly 5.5 million people currently in default on their student loans and the projected 10 million additional people in delinquency.

If you remember, way, way back in 2020, there was a temporary suspension of student loan payments, a 0% interest rate for eligible federal student loans, and a pause on collections of defaulted loans. These were much-needed efforts to relieve student loan debt to qualifying borrowers experiencing financial hardship related to the pandemic— if I’m being honest, many of us were.

And rightly so! We were collectively going through a public health emergency, and paying back student loans was the very least of our worries. 

So borrowers were given a reprieve of sorts, all debt collection activities, including wage garnishment and offset of certain benefits like Social Security, were suspended from March 13, 2020, through September 30, 2024. In March, at the start of that period, $1.5 trillion in federal student loan debt was outstanding, borrowed by or on behalf of 42.6 million individuals, near the end of the period in September, $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt was outstanding, borrowed by or on behalf of nearly 43.4 million individuals. [1] Suffice it to say, the pause was welcome news to millions of borrowers, including myself. 

→ Tell your member of Congress to keep fighting for borrower relief and support for the nearly 5.5 million people currently in default on their student loans and the projected 10 million additional people in delinquency.

What’s happened since then? Well, the work that the Biden Administration focused on to help struggling borrowers following the pandemic was upended by the Trump administration when they announced on April 21st that they would resume seizure of defaulted borrowers’ paychecks, tax refunds, and Social Security benefits. Does this make any sense to you? 

On top of rising grocery prices (hello, one dozen eggs for $5.59), increased housing costs, and impending tariffs that could cost the average American household almost $4,000 per year [3], they now want to garnish our wages? 

Absolutely not.The truth of the matter is that more than 5 million student loan borrowers are currently in default and that number could increase drastically. [4] Families are nervous and afraid. How are we to juggle the skyrocketing cost of simply living and then be faced with garnished paychecks? The short answer is that many of us can’t.

What’s being done about it? I know it seems like all is lost, but there is a glimmer of hope, and we could all use that right about now. Just last week, Representative Ayanna Pressley (A-07) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), reintroduced the Ending Administrative Wage Garnishment Act of 2025. This bill would provide borrower relief and support by suspending garnishment as a tool for student debt collection by the federal government. It would authorize the Department of Education to refund improperly garnished wages within one week, stop garnishment on loans that have been outstanding for more than 10 years, and also require the Department to pay double damages to borrowers whose wages are improperly garnished [2]. 

It’s good to know there are still leaders in Congress looking out for us and speaking out on our behalf in the face of tyranny. And it's good to know that members like you are using your voices to call out injustice and harmful policies facing our families. 

→ Now we need you to use your voice to tell your member of Congress that they must continue fighting for student loan borrowers, then send this to your friends and family so they can do the same.

The will of the people cannot and should not be drowned out!

--Namatie, Ruth, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

References:
[1] Federal Student Loan Debt Relief in the Context of COVID-19
[2] Pressley, Booker, Warren Unveil Bill to Suspend Garnishments For Student Loan Borrowers
[3] Tariffs could cost the average American household $3,800 per year. Here’s how to save for it
[4] Student loan borrowers brace for wage, garnishment: ‘Money is tight when you’re a teacher’

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