Hi all,
The glorious weather and the day itself are a gift, which I keep telling myself because I am presently in one of the upper circles of hell (involving unhelpful tech support).
Here’s some good news:
The Biden Administration announced a new student loan repayment program, SAVE, which will make student loans more affordable. Under the old rules borrowers had to pay
at least 10% of their discretionary income, or the difference between their adjusted gross income (AGI) and 150% of the federally designated poverty line. Now, borrowers only have to pay the difference between their income and 225% of the poverty line.
In practical terms, those earning less than $30,000 per year will not have to make payments. Interest rates will also be tied to income levels and family size rather than the size of the federal student debt.
I really appreciate that just two months after the US supreme court rejected the president’s plan to cancel up $10,000 - $20,000 of federal student debt for each borrower, Biden has found other ways to move forward to help those with student debt.
I have not accomplished much today and it’s okay because other people are still getting good work done. Note to self: keep on keeping on.
The Biden Administration already discharged $39 billion of student loan debt earlier this summer. My friend got official notification of her student loan cancelation over the weekend! [Insert happy dance and see below.]
The bill to waive NYS income taxes on student debt cancelations has already passed both houses in Albany. It just needs the governor’s signature.
Call on Governor Hochul to sign the bill to exclude student loan discharge from state income tax!
A recent study of medical debt in NYS found that the burden of medical debt falls most heavily on rural people of color. Since medical debt is first among the reasons that Americans declare bankruptcy, this issue deserves serious attention.
“Medical debt has been called a uniquely American injustice,” said David Sandman, president and CEO of the New York Health Foundation.
“I don’t know anybody across the political spectrum, no matter what their politics might be, who thinks getting sick, needing health care, should also ruin you and your family, financially.”
At the end of the last legislative session, both the Assembly and Senate in New York passed the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act, which prohibits consumer reporting agencies from collecting medical debt of any amount. It also prevents medical debts from inclusion in a consumer debt report.
Tell Governor Hochul to sign the Fair Medical Debt Reporting Act. This quick action is from End Medical Debt.
Some of the school funding will provide free lunches to the state’s public school students, making Massachusetts the eighth state to step up to provide free meals following the end of pandemic-era funding for universal free school meals.
Fossil-fuel giant BP will be funding part of the $50 billion master plan to save the Louisiana’s disappearing coastline, because of the damage done by 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. It’s bittersweet to make fossil fuel polluters pay, because there are costs that are borne by individuals and communities that no settlement will ever make up for.
And yet. Making polluters pay is a serious improvement over allowing them to profit while they externalize the damage onto the rest of us with impunity.
The new Enforcement and Compliance chief at the Environmental Protection Agency, David Uhlmann, is promising to hold polluters accountable. The agency is still rebounding from the understaffing of the Trump era. Uhlmann worked as a federal prosecutor for 17 years with DOJ’s environmental crimes unit and has been described as “aggressive and fair.”
Suncor oil refinery, in a low-income Denver-suburb, has repeatedly poisoned residents’ air and ignored health and safety regulations while lining the pockets of its Wall Street shareholders with billions of dollars that could have gone towards maintenance and improvements.
I’m not sure Uhlmann deserves credit for this good news; even if he does, he must share it with GreenLatino and Earthjustice, because their petitions to the EPA demanded that the company follow regulations and protect the health of the community.
The organizers will need to keep on keeping on. There’s a 45 day period during which the refinery can continue to operate. Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will need to address and resolve the EPA’s objections.
NASA has a great climate page that links to accessible discussions of the scientific findings of the causes and effects of climate change as well as the evidence of the problem, for those who have failed to see or feel or breathe the evidence on their own.
Have a good evening!
with love,
L