James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
4:30 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Good afternoon, everybody.
Q Good afternoon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. So, today, we're joined by Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, and Deputy NEC Director, Bharat Ramamurti. They're here to speak about the Supreme Court's decision on st- — on the student debt relief this morning and — as you all know, you just heard from the President.
And so, before we get — we go there, I just want to talk about a few things at the top. And then we'll — I'll hand it over to our two guests.
First, we are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision today in 303 Creative, which takes our nation backward in the fight for equality. This decision undermines the basic truth that no American should face discrimination for who they are or who they love. And it's even more disappointing as we close out Pride month today.
It chips away at a longstanding laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations, including people of color, people with disabilities, and people of faith, and women.
While the Court's decision only addresses expressive original designs, as President Biden said today, we are concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
And we know that when one group's dignity and equality are threatened, the promise of our democracy is threatened, and we all suffer.
The administration will remain focused on enforcing federal anti-discrimination protections, and the President will continue to call on Congress to pass the Equality Act.
Now, second, as we head into July 4th, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are working closely with airlines to help minimize flight disruptions resulting from extreme weather.
Airline operations quickly recovered from the weather earlier this week, except for United Airlines, which expects to return to normal tomorrow. But we will continue to keep a close eye on all this.
And we want to remind air travelers to visit FlightRights.gov — again, that's FlightRights.gov — to see what you're entitled to if your flight is cancelled or delayed.
Finally, as you know, we normally do the week ahead on Fridays, but because it's 4:30 on Friday ahead o- — going into a holiday weekend, we're going to send the week ahead through a pool note in a couple of hours, before the end of the day for sure.
But before I move on, I want to acknowledge someone in the room who you all know very well and who has been a friendly face to all of you and to all of us. That is Ed Lewis.
Ed is retiring today, after 25 years as photographer for Fox News and 14 years at C-SPAN. (Applause.)
In his career — hi, Ed. (Laughter.) In his career, Ed has covered every president since Ronald Reagan. Right? Not to age you, my friend. (Laughter.) You look young, 21.
I know he is a friend to many folks here, and is — certainly many folks on my team. He always has a smile. Every time I see him, he always waves, smiles, and gives me a thumbs-up. So I give you thumbs-up back to you, my friend.
And I know many of you have seen him travelling, carrying like 13 bags, or something like that — (laughter) — all at once. So, incredibly impressive.
So, Ed, thank you for being a joy to work with. I hope you are en- — you will enjoy more time at the tee, following your last day here, and we will truly, truly miss you. And thank you for just always being a friendly face.
We do — the team decided to get you something.
Q Awww —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, here you go.
Can you step away for a second, or do I have to come back — I can come back.
Q (Laughter.) Awww —
(Ms. Jean-Pierre walks to the back of the briefing room.)
(Applause.)
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: A first. (Laughter.)
All right.
Q First time I've ever (inaudible) anything like this.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, and — you're very welcome. (Laughter.) Very excited.
Okay. So, now I'm going to turn it over to Secretary Cardona, who is going to say a few words about the plan that the President announced today after the Supreme Court decision. And then, of course, Bharat, as you know, is here to take any questions, as well.
Mr. Secretary —
SECRETARY CARDONA: Thank you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — that's for you.
SECRETARY CARDONA: Thank you.
Good afternoon. In the last 48 hours, our country has been set back, in terms of providing equity and access in higher education. And as you heard from the President, today the Supreme Court ruled against more than 40 million working families.
Let's be clear about who would have benefited from the President's student debt relief plan. Nearly 90 percent of relief would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year. Twenty million Americans would see their debts dropped to zero, with twenty million more seeing lower payments.
This would mean fewer borrowers falling into the delinquency and default when payment pause ended.
We're not talking about the millionaires who benefited from the billions in tax giveaways a few years ago. We're talking about low- and middle-income families recovering from the worst pandemic in a century.
I strongly disagree with the Court's decision here. So today, I want to assure our students, our borrowers, and families across America: Our fight is not over. We're taking action.
The President, the Vice President, and I have put borrowers first from day one. We refuse to go back to the way things were before the pandemic, when a million borrowers defaulted each year and faced devastating financial consequences.
So let me tale [sic] — tell you about the actions we're taking today.
Number one, we're going to open up an alternative path to debt relief for as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.
