President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that forgives all student loan debt for any permanently disabled U.S. military veterans as first reported by Fox News.
The order, which Trump signed after addressing a crowd at the American Veterans National Convention in Louisville, Ky., also clears those eligible veterans from having to pay any federal income tax on the loans. Trump added that he is strongly encouraging individual states to follow suit.
“The debt of these disabled veterans will be completely erased,” Trump said. “That’s hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans debt for our disabled veterans that will be completely erased.”
The memo Trump signed directs the government to develop an “expedited” process so veterans can have their federal student loan debt discharged “with minimal burdens.” Currently, just half of the roughly 50,000 disabled veterans who are qualified to have their federal student loan debt forgiven have received the benefit because of a burdensome application process.
According to 2014 U.S. Census data, there are more than 312,000 veterans living in Oklahoma, and about 20 percent of those veterans suffer from some form of disability due to injuries or environmental exposure incurred while in the military.
