On the Money — A guide to applying for student debt forgiveness
We walk you through what you need to know about the federal student loan forgiveness application. We’ll also look at Democrats longing for summer and the risks facing older Americans as recession looms.
🎃 But first, McDonald’s is back with Halloween Happy Meal pails.
Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom.
Biden launches student debt relief application
The Biden administration has officially launched its student debt relief application, ending months of anticipation from millions of American borrowers.
President Biden announced his plan for student loan debt relief in August, forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt for those making under $125,000 annually and $20,000 for Pell grant recipients.
Now that applications are live, here’s what you need to know:
While relief is available to millions of borrowers, there are still a large chunk of debtors that do not qualify, including those with private loans or couples who make $250,000 per year.
Around 8 million borrowers won’t have to apply and will be eligible for automatic forgiveness.
Individuals are urged to apply for debt relief before Nov. 15 if they are hoping to receive the payments in their accounts before the student loan payments resume Jan. 1.
The Hill’s Lexi Lonas has the details here.
BAD TIMING?
Democrats worry they peaked too soon ahead of midterms
Democrats have cause for concern that they’re fading at a bad time ahead of the midterm elections after a summer surge fostered optimism that the party could buck historical trends and retain control of Congress.
A New York Times-Siena College poll released Monday found Republicans held a 49-45 lead over Democrats in the generic ballot roughly one month before November’s elections.
That represents a shift from September, when the same poll found Democrats leading Republicans by 1 percentage point.
That poll followed a trend among other surveys that as recently as late September showed Democrats leading Republicans on the generic ballot, only for the lead to shrink or disappear altogether.
The context: Ethan Winter, an analyst at the progressive group Data for Progress, said the Democrats’ outlook improved over the summer as the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade coincided with falling gas prices and economic reports that indicated inflation was cooling.
“The inflation outlook improved a little bit as gas prices fell but then got worse again, and momentum this cycle has tracked with these sort of baseline economic indicators,” Winter said.
The Hill’s Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano break it down here.
VIRTUAL EVENT INVITE
50+ Women Voters and the Midterms, Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. ET
The midterms come at a time when inflation and the rising cost of living are squeezing American households. Powering these households and feeling the pinch are women age 50 and older, who typically turn up in large numbers for midterm elections and could be deciding the fate of the House and Senate. What are the priorities of these voters and how can they feel seen and heard by their country and their elected officials? Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), AARP’s Nancy LeaMond, UnidosUS Latino Vote Initiative VP Clarissa Martínez-de-Castro, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s Kate Ryan and more join The Hill to discuss what issues are top of mind for these voters. RSVP today.
BRACE FOR IMPACT
Older Americans at greater risk as potential of recession looms
Older Americans may face greater risks than their younger counterparts if the U.S. economy slips into a recession.
A potential recession in 2023 would likely be less severe than the ones that followed the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the financial crisis of 2008.
But any recession will likely include job losses, lost income and falling wealth — all of which could have a greater impact on older Americans.
Older workers tend to avoid the first rounds of layoffs at firms under a “last in, first out” strategy: hold on to loyal, tenured employees with experience and cut costs in entry-level positions that are easier to replace when the economy turns. But mid- to late-career workers who lose their jobs — in good times or bad — often have a much harder time finding new gigs than their younger counterparts.
Sylvan explains here.
BABY RECESSION?
Fitch Ratings predicts mild recession by spring
Financial services company Fitch Ratings predicted in a new report the U.S. will enter a mild recession akin to the 1990 recession starting in the spring of next year.
In the report obtained by The Hill, Fitch cut its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2022 from 2.9 percent to 1.7 percent, while the company expects just 0.5 percent GDP growth in 2023.
Fitch predicts the nation will hit “genuine recession territory” by mid-2023, citing the continued hiking of interest rates from the Federal Reserve central bank and a 40-year high inflation rate.
Fitch compared the recession it is projecting for next year to the 1990 recession, which lasted from July 1990 to March 1991 and was sparked by high oil prices and the Federal Reserve’s tightening of the economy to control inflation.
The Hill’s Brad Dress digs into this here.
Good to Know
Amazon workers at a warehouse near Albany overwhelmingly voted against forming a union Tuesday, marking the second loss for organizers in New York after success at a Staten Island facility that voted to be represented by a union earlier this year.
Four hundred and six workers at the ALB1 facility in Schodack, N.Y., voted against the union bid, defeating the 206 that voted in favor of being represented by the nascent Amazon Labor Union.
Other items we’re keeping an eye on:
Hollywood’s first Chinese American movie star Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American on United States currency.
Microsoft cut hundreds of jobs after it faced slower revenue growth last quarter, according to reports.
Cannabis users soon may be a majority among young adults in the District of Columbia and several pot-friendly states, a trend that points to a potential future of destigmatized marijuana across much of the nation.
A Maryland judge struck down the nation’s first tax on digital ads, ruling it violated two federal laws.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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