President Joe Biden has decided to abandon efforts to protect transgender student athletes and cancel student loans for over 38 million Americans. This decision is part of a broader strategy to withdraw unfinished regulations across multiple government agencies before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The aim is to prevent Trump from quickly rewriting these regulations to align with his policy goals, as the incoming administration would be able to revise them if they remain in their current form.
The Biden administration had hoped to finalize several important regulations but now plans to withdraw them due to time constraints. By pulling back the unfinished rules, Biden seeks to prevent Trump from advancing his agenda more swiftly by starting the regulatory process anew. However, this means that the regulations Biden intended to implement, including those on transgender student athletes and student debt relief, will not come to fruition during his presidency.
Despite withdrawing these specific regulations, the Biden administration continues to push forward with some initiatives. For example, the Department of Education announced the cancellation of loans for another 55,000 borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. This program, created in 2007 and expanded by Biden, offers student debt relief to individuals working in government or nonprofit roles after 10 years of service.
Joe Biden
The move to withdraw the regulations leaves the door open for Trump to pursue his own versions of the same policies once he returns to the White House. However, he would have to start from scratch in a process that can take years, making it more difficult to implement his agenda swiftly. The Biden administration, while facing this setback, remains committed to the original goals of its regulatory proposals, though the withdrawal is seen as a necessary move given the time constraints.
Biden’s decision to withdraw the student loan regulations, particularly his second attempt at widespread debt cancellation, follows a series of legal setbacks. The first debt cancellation plan was blocked by the Supreme Court, and the second faced resistance from Republican-led states. Despite these challenges, the Biden administration has already forgiven $180 billion in student loans, providing relief to millions of borrowers through existing programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which continues to provide debt relief for workers in essential services.
The proposed regulation on transgender student athletes, which was delayed multiple times, aimed to balance protections for transgender students with fairness in sports competitions. While advocates for transgender athletes felt the proposal did not go far enough, opponents argued that it did not adequately protect female athletes. With the regulation now withdrawn, the issue remains contentious, and any future action on transgender athlete participation will likely face legal challenges, especially given the ongoing litigation surrounding Biden’s broader Title IX rule on LGBTQ+ students.
