As a senator, Joe Biden helped lenders make it almost impossible to discharge student debt in bankruptcy court. But as a president with a depressed economy and a potential Republican Senate, undoing his own legacy and cancelling student debt may be one of Biden’s only options to stimulate the economy — and progressives and even some Democratic leaders argue that he has the power to do it all on his own, whether Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell likes it or not.

Today, 45 million Americans owe a collective $1.7 trillion dollars in student debt, with the average borrower owing $36,214. Before loan payments were suspended as a result of the pandemic, student borrowers who were making payments typically paid between $200 and $299 per month. Black student borrowers take on more debt on average and are more likely to default on that debt than white borrowers. Lower-income student debtors on average face a larger debt burden as a share of income than wealthier borrowers — and during the pandemic, they have fallen behind on payments at a far greater rate than higher-income debtors.

On the campaign trail, Biden has advocated for cancelling $10,000 of debt per person in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden has also advocated for cancelling student debt used to pay tuition expenses for undergraduates earning less than $125,000 at public schools and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).