Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina | Email Max Biden administration officials are united on many policy issues. Student debt is not one of them. Over the Biden administration’s first year, administration and White House officials have sparred internally and externally over how to address the outstanding $1.7 trillion in student loan debt Americans carry. Biden himself and many in his inner circle are wary of arguments to cancel student loan debt by executive action or indefinitely extend a moratorium on student loan payments during Covid-19—a position the president believes is popular on Twitter but less so in the country. Some outside Biden allies see the hesitancy as a result of Biden’s inner circle being largely older and wealthy, with little understanding of how the current student loan burden affects younger generations. Biden’s views have been reinforced by some newer aides including Domestic Policy Council (DPC) head SUSAN RICE. As leading Democrats like Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) called last fall to extend the pandemic-era moratorium on loan payments, the DPC remained skeptical about any extension, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. “Everyone I talk to views Susan Rice as hostile to any sort of aggressive pro-student agenda,” said one progressive operative. Rice was one of a contingent of Biden administration officials who had been holding firm on restarting payments on Feb. 1. Their argument: The Biden administration needs to prudently manage the student loan program—and that means easing borrowers back into making their monthly payments, even if it might be unpopular with the loan recipients getting those bills. Some administration officials have also expressed concerns that further extending emergency pandemic relief programs, like the student loan pause, undercuts the White House message of a booming economic recovery. Meanwhile, other administration officials, especially those allied with Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.), have been pushing for the White House to adopt the type of sweeping student loan relief proposals that outside progressives are demanding. The White House’s review of their own executive authority has been “ongoing” for many months. The lack of internal consensus led to a chaotic decision-making process in late December when the moratorium was set to expire, people familiar with the process told West Wing Playbook. It began with a contentious White House meeting with outside student debt activists. Sources familiar with the discussions said there was talk of doing a full year extension but it was tabled. Ultimately, JOE BIDEN abruptly reversed course and chose to extend the moratorium until May 1. White House and Education Department officials cited the surge of the Omicron variant as a primary factor driving the change in policy. Asked for comment for this story, a White House official noted that it was Rice’s DPC that, in the end, penned the final decision memo that advocated for the May extension. Asked if we could review the memo, the official said “no.” CARMEL MARTIN and KATHERINE VALLE are two of the DPC aides who have taken the lead on the issue. Rice also helped oversee the Biden administration’s major expansion last fall of the federal loan forgiveness program for public service workers. The messy reversal provided a political opening for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS amidst staff departures and poor headlines. Over the last year, Harris’ office hasn’t been very involved in conversations with outside progressive groups on student loan debt, according to student loan advocates. But Harris’ office sought to at least share credit for the decision to extend the moratorium. Harris cut her own video for Facebook and Instagram. “It’s the right thing to do,” she declared in the video (which was separate from Biden’s own video message on the issue). The White House helped give her the win. The president’s statement noted that this “is an issue Vice President Harris has been closely focused on.” And press secretary JEN PSAKI went out of her way to underscore that “this is an issue both President Biden and Vice President Harris care deeply about,” while announcing the new student loan relief from the podium. The temporary extension amounted to a punt, however, as both sides will debate the issue again in several weeks. The closer the decision gets to the midterms, the more politicized it will become. Advocates argue young voters could be energized by a decision to provide fuller relief, while opponents of another extension are wary of alienating older voters who may resent anything resembling loan forgiveness. Biden’s instincts are to resume payments and not unilaterally forgive loans without congressional action (which is unlikely). During a CNN town hall in February, he said across the board loan forgiveness would include students from “Harvard and Yale and Penn.” And he questioned why those students’ loan debt should be forgiven, “rather than use that money to provide money for early education for young children who are—come from disadvantaged circumstances.” Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you ALEJANDRO S. JACQUEZ, senior policy adviser for the National Economic Council. We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098. | 
