Ever since he first entered the White House in 2021, President Joe Biden has repeatedly attempted -- with rather limited success -- to cancel the outstanding student loan debts of tens of millions of borrowers.

Yet, with just a month left before he leaves office, Biden bailed on two of his student loan debt forgiveness plans by formally withdrawing the proposed rules from consideration, BPR reported.

The move means Biden has essentially admitted defeat on the controversial issue, which is widely opposed by the general public. However, it could also be an effort at gamesmanship to prevent the incoming Trump administration from quickly altering the proposed debt relief plans for other purposes.

Proposed rules withdrawn

Though not made public until Thursday, President Biden's Education Department filed last Friday with the Federal Register a formal notice of withdrawal of two proposed rules related to his student loan debt forgiveness plans.

The proposed rules, first filed in April 2024, would have codified the Biden-Harris administration's broad interpretation of limited existing authorities for the Education secretary to waive student loan repayment requirements or make other substantial alterations to the repayment plans of certain borrowers.

After summarizing why the initial "notice of proposed rulemaking" was believed to be lawful and necessary, the filing stated, "Upon further consideration of the operational challenges in implementing the proposals in the NPRM, the Secretary withdraws the NPRM and terminates the rulemaking proceeding."

It was further revealed that given the administration's limited remaining time and unlikelihood of finalizing the new rules before the next administration took over, it was decided that the department would "commit its limited operational resources to helping at-risk borrowers return to repayment successfully."

That said, it was duly noted that the withdrawal was not based on any "changed view" of the secretary's purported authorities, nor was it because of "any preliminary determination about the limitations of such authority" in one of several ongoing legal challenges against the proposals.

Cheering for limited debt relief while ending broader plans

Interestingly enough, on the same day that the notice of withdrawal was filed, Education Sec. Miguel Cardona announced the latest approval of student loan debt relief that was limited to around 55,000 public service workers and totaled approximately $4.28 billion.

"Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered," Cardona said in a statement.

He added, "With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers."

Why would they do this?

Forbes reported that the two proposed rules -- the first known as "Plan B" and was broadly applicable to most borrowers, while the second applied to borrowers suffering certain "hardships" -- would have granted debt relief to an estimated 30 million borrowers and potentially could have amounted to more than $1 trillion.

Those plans had been blocked by court injunctions and could have been altered in substantial ways by the incoming Trump administration, however, so they were withdrawn in a likely effort to both prevent the next administration from changing them as well as to render the ongoing legal fights moot before a possible precedent-setting decision could be rendered.

Those concerns are not unjustified, as most courts that have considered Biden's debt relief efforts have declared them unconstitutional, and Politico reported last month that President-elect Trump's team is making preparations to swiftly "pull the plug" on Biden's plans as soon as they can do so.