Student loans
Navient is the student loan servicer I found myself with when I finished my Ph.D. and I very, very rapidly discovered their communication was abysmal. I needed to consolidate my loans, some of which were not eligible in their original form for income based repayment, anyway into a loan that would be entirely eligible for income-based repayment, so I took the opportunity to change servicers at that time and have since recommended strongly to anyone else who would listen that they should do the same.
Now Navient is getting out of the student loan business.[1]
Katie Lobosco, “Navient is quitting the federal student loan business,” CNN, September 30, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics/navient-student-loans/index.html
Infrastructure
We have a top-line number from Joe Manchin: $1.5 trillion.[2] But it appears so-called “progressives” in the House of Representatives held the line, refusing to support the bipartisan infrastructure framework until they also have a reconciliation package, causing Nancy Pelosi to delay a vote on the former.[3]
The Huffington Post styles this as a defeat for Pelosi.[4] More importantly, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrstin Sinema are now on notice that they cannot get their infrastructure package without “progressives” getting their reconciliation package. The real question is whether Manchin and Sinema in fact care: My bet is that they don’t and that they will blame “progressives” for refusing to support an infrastructure package that the two senators didn’t really want in the first place. So we end up with nothing: not the infrastructure bill, nor the reconciliation package.
Igor Bobic and Arthur Delaney, “Progressive Democrats Stare Down Moderates In Battle Over Biden Agenda,” Huffington Post, September 30, 2021, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-infrastructure-vote_n_6155b857e4b0487c855b9a42
Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett, “Democrats grit their teeth after Manchin lists demands,” Politico, September 30, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/30/democrats-grit-teeth-manchin-demands-514836
Marianna Sotomayor, “Waiting for ‘Manchema’: House liberals grow exasperated with two Democratic senators as Biden agenda struggles,” Washington Post, September 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manchin-sinema-reconciliation-liberals/2021/09/30/3aa2b376-2130-11ec-8200-5e3fd4c49f5e_story.html